


Lost Apprentice

by Dragoniz



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Relationship(s), Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-02 04:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20617985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoniz/pseuds/Dragoniz
Summary: Ashara has been having nightmares since her master disappeared. Can a mysterious Sith protect her from them?





	1. Chapter 1

Pure darkness engulfed her.

Ashara was floating in nothingness. She tried to remember where she was, what could possibly be happening, but nothing came.

And then, it did.

She was there, on the Fury vessel, in the heat of an enormous battle. Worse than she’d ever seen. Lights and sounds were erupting from the console in front of her. Blaster bolts flew past the transparisteel of the windshield, nearly hitting every time, but Andronikos dodged them expertly.

“Ashara!”

The apprentice blinked, turning quickly to the pirate at her side, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Did you not hear the Sith—“ he was cut off by a bolt hitting the starboard side of the ship, his snarl growing, “blast! The Sith ordered us to retreat. I need you to kick us into hyperspace.”

“Of course.” Ashara scrambled to collect her bearings. Quickly, she identified the safety switches but elected not to use them, as it would take too long and this was an emergency. Against her better judgement, she pulled back on the center console handle, preparing to jump—just in time to see Darth Marr’s ship explode.

The ship her master was on.

Everything went white.

“No! No no no no no!”

“Um, miss?”

Ashara shot up, her vision dark and blurred as she struggled into conscientiousness. Across the small room, in the small doorway, a child stared at her from the light of the hallway.

She watched the little girl take a half step back, “Um, my momma told me to tell you that breakfast is ready. Um, thank you.”

The girl scurried off instantly and the door closed automatically behind her. Ashara sighed deeply and pushed the thin blanket from her body.

The nightmare still haunted her, fresh in her brain as it had been since the event occurred over a month ago. She felt many things: sadness, anger, frustration, fear...but most of all, guilt. Some part of her felt, if not knew, that if she’d gone onto that ship with her master in the first place like her subconscious told her to, he would be okay.

But now wasn’t the time for all that. The togruta crossed her legs and allowed her arms to rest gently upon them. She steadied her breathing and closed her eyes so that she could better focus on the Force around her.

“There is emotion. There is peace. There is passion. There is serenity. There is death. There is the Force.”

She quietly spoke the chant to herself several times before her mind was clear. When she was ready, Ashara awoke fully and dressed herself for the day. She ducked out of her quaint quarters and made her way to the dining area.

“Ashara! Good morning, my dear.”

A stout, human woman beamed at Ashara from across the table as she set down full plates of food. Even from the other side of the room, Ashara could smell the delicious aroma of grease and fresh eggs, and her stomach rumbled.

“Thank you very much, Nala.”

Ashara sat quickly and devoured the contents of the meal barely before Nala could call the kids to the table. The two children came barreling into the room, loud and obnoxious as ever, but settled and sat when their mother ordered them too.

“Now,” Nala turned pointedly to Ashara, and her stomach twisted. Suddenly she wished she’d waited for this conversation to be over before scarfing down her breakfast, “how did it go last night?”

Ashara took a deep breath, trying not to focus on the kids’ wide eyes boring into her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.”

“Ah.” Nala took a solemn moment to peer down at the floor.

Ashara hated this part. Hated it. Nothing upset her more than disappointing the less fortunate. The people she was so desperate to help, and she couldn’t even do that. By housing and feeding her they were helping her more than she was them, and she hated that too.

“Well, there’s always tonight, right?” Nala smiled warmly at her once again, but Ashara knew it was just for the kids. She could sense the tense uneasiness radiating from her hostess, and yearned to change that, but knew there was nothing she could do.

Besides the children occasionally giggling at one another, the rest of the meal was had in silence. After they went back to playing, Ashara followed Nala into the kitchen with the dishes and began to help clean up.

“Nala,” she said, after several minutes of silence, “if I am a burden to you, please let me—“

“Oh not at all, my dear!” The woman placed her hand on Ashara’s arm, “you are helping more than anyone ever has. And for free!” She scoffed, “that’s more than I could’ve ever asked for. Thank you.”

Ashara nodded and, after a bit, allowed the calm to wash over her. She spent the next few hours helping with various chores around the house and on the farm. Then, she bathed and later meditated until the sun set. Around that time, a soft knock sounded at her door.

“Come in.”

The door slid open and Nala smiled sweetly from the doorway, her dark curls bouncing as she stepped into the room.

When the door shut behind her, her face grew to be more serious. Ashara tensed.

“Tonight will be the night, I can feel it.”

Ashara relaxed, “we can only hope, Nala.”

The woman nodded a few times and turned to leave, but peered over her shoulder to ask, “Pardon my asking, but can’t you tell? With...the Force?”

“I truly wish I could. Perhaps then I could give you a more concrete answer.”

She nodded, looking thoughtful, and wished Ashara a good night before leaving to get the kids off to bed. Ashara glanced at the clock on the wall and mumbled to herself, “four hours.”

Four hours later, Ashara sat, motionless, in the crop fields alongside the house. She was listening intently and felt around desperately with the Force for something, anything, but received nothing in return. The nearly-full moon bathed the crops in shimmering light. Every crop was as pristine as she recalled.

Ashara allowed several minutes to pass before she stood, and then a few more minutes to pass before she went back inside to go to sleep.

As much as she dreaded it.

“Ashara!”

That deep, gruff voice broke her reverie. Ashara glanced at Andronikos, “I’m sorry, what?”

Hyperspace, blaster bolt, explosion. It always happened the same way, every time. That unimaginable dread took hold of her very being and Ashara tried desperately to fight it, but it was crushing.

She awoke sweaty, exhausted, throat sore. Nothing new. In the early hours before dawn, Ashara quickly used the ‘fresher and perched herself at the end of her small cot, forcing herself to breathe evenly, “There is emotion. There is peace. There is passion. There is serenity. There is death. There is the Force.”

A tiny knock sounded at her door and, before she could invite him in, a child appeared there and invited her to breakfast.

Ashara ate. She broke the news to Nala. She did chores, tended to crops, mediated, bathed.

Two in the morning arrived before Ashara was prepared. Instead of sitting among the crops that night, she would have to watch from a nook off to the side of the porch. She waited until her legs were sore and her eyes would barely stay open, but, of course, nothing. Solemnly, Ashara shuffled back into the house and ducked into her small room. Sleep came before she was ready to be taken.

The sun in the window gently touched Ashara’s face, and brought her into the waking world. She yawned and stretched. It took several seconds for her to realize.

No nightmare.

And then, she realized something else.

It was past sunrise.

Ashara was sent into full panic mode. With no time to meditate, she knew her Force connection would be iffy, but she focused and did her best to reach out with it anyway.

Something felt...wrong. There was a void. Almost quiet enough that she would never have noticed had she not gone looking for it, but it was as if there was a chunk missing somewhere.

Her mind raced. A million possibilities rushed through her thoughts, not a single one good.

In one leap, Ashara was off the cot and across the room, her fist smashing into the wall as she ran out the door, nearly catching her horns on the frame. In a second she was across the farmhouse, out of breath. She sprinted into the kitchen, the source of that awful void, only to find…

...Nala. Looking as chipper as always. Of course, when she saw sweaty, out-of-breath, pajama-wearing Ashara she looked horrified, but that wasn’t important.

What was important was the guest she had at her side.

A Sith.


	2. Chapter 2

The Sith towered over Nala, his figure looming and intimidating. He was broad-shouldered and had the posture of a well-behaved apprentice, but what really made him stand out was his presence. The Force radiated from him in dark waves, as it did any Sith, and it took all of Ashara’s strength to maintain a civil composure.

She took a few breaths and smoothed her shirt to even herself out before speaking, “Nala. Who is this?”

“Oh!” Nala perked, as if she’d completely forgotten there was a Sith at her side, “this is, er, I’m so sorry, hun, but I didn’t catch your name.”

“My name is not important.” His voice was as deep and menacing as Ashara had envisioned it to be.

But that didn’t stop her from growling at him, “your name is ‘not important’? Who do you think you are?”

He raised a brow, “No need to be so hostile. I’m here to help, after all.”

Dumbfounded, Ashara glanced at her hostess. Nala smiled, “indeed he is! This young man heard about our struggles from some folks in the village and offered his help. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I just thought since you haven’t, er, had much luck—“

“It’s fine, Nala.” Ashara sighed, “I understand. Would you like me to leave?”

“Oh heavens no!” The woman looked downright shocked, “I couldn’t imagine being without you! And I though maybe the two of you could work together! You could fill him in on all the little details and, together, you could work something…”

As Nala rattled on, Ashara realized the Sith was staring at her. She recalled what she’d put on before bed the night before and suddenly her bare legs under her long shirt felt _very _bare.

She cleared her throat and interrupted Nala’s rambling, “Nala, I’m going to get dressed.”

“Of course dear,” she smiled, then called after her as the togruta turned and paced down the hall, “sorry for the scare!”

_A Sith? Really, Nala, you think it’s not important to tell me about that?_

Ashara had to refrain herself from punching the wall of the ‘fresher. She took several deep breaths to calm herself.

“There is passion. There is serenity. There is passion. There is serenity.”

Still wary, she felt out with the Force to assure that she wasn’t going to be ambushed. To her relief, the Sith seemed to be farther away from her now than before. Ashara finished up in the ‘fresher and dressed herself in a simple outfit of brown trousers and a beige tunic. Briefly, she recalled that the Sith had been wearing black and gray, and she couldn’t help but wonder why he wouldn’t even attempt to camouflage to his surroundings. Though she supposed he likely didn’t care enough to do so. Not many Sith would.

She also recalled his skin. That deep orange and those signature ridges of a pureblood reminded her of her master. But she shook that thought away and focused instead on building a mental wall.

After an hour or so of meditation, Ashara made her way to the kitchen and forced down what scraps were left of breakfast. Apparently no one felt it important to invite her after getting to know their new Sith friend.

“I’ve got rations, if you’d like.”

Ashara nearly jumped out of her skin when that deep voice grumbled from behind her. She silently cursed herself for being so focused on her own thoughts that she’d completely ignored the Force around her. Now that she was paying attention, she felt the waves of dark energy emanating from him and she was astounded that she’d missed it in the first place.

Apparently, he was too, “I apologize, I assumed you had sensed me.”

_So she told you all about me then, huh?_, “I don’t want your food. Nala cooks perfectly fine.”

“Fair enough.” When he raised a hand, palm first, she twitched involuntarily toward her side where she kept her lightsaber, well-hidden beneath her clothes.

His eyes narrowed, but the corner of his mouth turned upward, “So it’s true, then? You were trained as a Jedi?”

Ashara recalled the many conversations she’d had with Nala about her Force sensitivity. She’d been extremely hesitant to say much, for fear of word getting out about her location, but she supposed with bits and pieces put together it may have alluded to her Jedi padawan past.

But Ashara didn’t say a word of this to the Sith. In fact, she said nothing. Heart beating fast, she put her senses on high alert and forced her way past the spot where he leaned in the doorway, nearly touching him in the process.

As she passed, Ashara realized something. The Force energy emanating from him wasn’t entirely dark. Somewhere, deep down, there was a spark. It was small, but bright enough that she’d noticed it only in passing. Her curiosity was peaked. However she knew she would never get the chance to find out more. Because she’d decided that she’d be gone by the next sunrise.

It was mid-afternoon before Ashara had the displeasure of running into the Sith again. This time she was prepared. She sensed him long before he approached her in the fields, his dark cloak standing out disgracefully.

“I know you’re planning to leave.”

She sighed and tossed the rake to the side, allowing it to thud against the dirt. She knew there was no use in lying, but she had no idea how this Sith could possibly know that. She’d been very careful to keep the secret a secret.

“How?”

“When you walk past her,” he nodded at Nala, far off in the field opposite the one they were standing, delicately pulling weeds, “you radiate guilt. I’m surprised she hasn’t noticed it, honestly.”

“Okay.” Ashara crossed her arms, prepared for some sort of Sith trick. Blackmail, maybe, “so?”

“So,” when he looked back at her she felt self conscious and suddenly felt the need to check and see if she was wearing pants, but she resisted the urge, “you must have learned some things in the, what, weeks you’ve been staying here? I would appreciate it if you would at least give me some clues.”

_No_, she wanted to bite, but she held her tongue and forced her anger down, “I’ll think about it.”

With that, Ashara abandoned her work and decided to take a meditation break. This time she purposefully stepped closer to the Sith than she needed to when she passed, which unfortunately caused him to tense and his presence to shift and be more reserved. After the fact, she felt incredibly stupid for doing something so impulsive, and made sure to remind herself that he was not an ally. He needed to be treated as an active threat.

After a few hours of meditation, Ashara felt it again. His presence. It was the first time she’d opened her eyes in hours and she realized it was nearly sunset. She felt ashamed for leaving Nala to do all the work herself, especially with a Sith lurking around. But now her focus was on the shifting Force outside her door. It took a few moments of listening for her to realize that Nala was there with him, having a conversation. She concentrated in an attempt to eavesdrop, but just as she did so they said their parting words and a knock sounded at her door.

Softly, Ashara answered, “come in.”

Nala’s smile was just as sweet as always. She honestly looked more content than she had for a while, probably due to the least bit of hope after days and days of bad news. But the way Nala was twiddling her thumbs had Ashara worried.

“What is it, Nala?”

The woman took a breath, “I know you aren’t exactly, um, getting along with our newest guest. But he would appreciate it if you could, maybe, fill him in? I promise he’s just a sweetheart once you get to know him—“

“Okay, okay.” Ashara stopped her so that she wouldn’t have to throw up in her mouth, “I’ll tell him, Nala. For you.”

She beamed, “thank you so much, Ashara! I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

When her hostess began to tear up, Ashara hurriedly said her goodnight. Nala promised to send the Sith to see her, to which Ashara had to stop herself from giving a snarky response.

It seemed like an eternity before another knock sounded, this time heavier and more commanding than the last.

Ashara braced herself, “come in.”

The Sith stepped into her room and immediately surveyed his surroundings. Suddenly she was self-conscious of what little of her own possessions she had laying about.

“I’m surprised you aren’t packed yet.” He commented, almost idly.

“Quiet.” She snapped, already annoyed. Stars, did she really have to do this?

“My apologies.” He offered as he sat down on the single chair against the far wall.

“That’s the second time you’ve apologized to me. I didn’t know Sith knew how to do that.”

He ignored her tone and kept his cool composure, as usual, “Perhaps I’m not Sith.”

A few things sparked in Ashara: confusion, anger, but most importantly, curiosity.

The Sith (if he could still be referred to as such), of course, sensed all this, and smiled. She found herself taken aback by how genuine it looked, and had to stop her thoughts from wandering into how it affected the sweat on her palms.

“Anyhow,” he moved on, toying with her, “what can you share with me before two?”

The togruta took a deep breath, steadying both her emotions and her body, and pressed her back against the wall where she sat on the cot. Hesitantly, she explained what little she’d learned to the man in front of her.

Mostly she knew that something happened on the farm once a month, but for some reason this time was different every month, however, it was always two in the morning. At two in the morning, as she’d been told, every member of the household woke suddenly and felt a dreadful uneasiness; only to look out their windows and see a lone, dark figure standing motionless in the fields. The figure, as it had been described to her, was always there until Nala looked away to make a call, and then it disappeared. This terrified Nala, which was why she’d put out a desperate ad on the holonet with what little savings a single mother could have, and hoped. Ashara was the first to respond, and had assumed it’d been taken down once she arrived, but apparently had been left up for others to find just in case.

While telling this part of the story Ashara let slip that she’d been searching the holonet for something to do, some way to help someone. The Sith shifted in his chair when she said this, but had no remark. She continued.

She recalled every night for the past two weeks: stay up until two, wait, and watch. But nothing ever came.

With that she wrapped up her story and glanced at the clock. Three hours left.

Finally, the Sith said something, “Interesting. I suppose it’s greatly disappointing to you that you cannot help the way you truly desire to.”

It’d been digging at her that she’d been trying and trying to help, but no opportunity ever presented itself. She felt like a failure and a fraud, even though she’d been doing this all free of charge.

“Maybe a little bit.” She shrugged, “so what?”

He shrugged in return, “how noble.”

When Ashara narrowed her eyes in hostility, the Sith took that as an invitation to leave. He told her that he’d be back in a few hours and disappeared to who knows where.

Grateful to be alone, Ashara let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. That Sith had been eating away at the barrier she’d been implementing for weeks. This greatly bothered Ashara, because no matter how often the children got on her nerves or how many nightmares she had, the barrier had remained full and in-tact. But the passing presence of one random Sith was enough to deteriorate it.

In an attempt to clear her thoughts, Ashara found her way to the ‘fresher and took her time bathing to re-align her thoughts and scattered emotions.

“There is emotion. There is peace. There is emotion. There is peace…”

She repeated her chant under her breath until she did feel at peace. At least, as at peace as one could feel while still being on guard for the worst.

She dressed herself in her camouflage once again and waited. Soon enough there was an hour until two. And then a half hour. And then fifteen minutes.

A soft knock at her door startled her, and broke the reverie of her meditation. Instead of welcoming the Sith in, Ashara made her way to the door and had it open seconds after he’d knocked.

The Sith blinked in surprise, and Ashara realized she was closer to him than she’d ever been before. She noticed that his irises were a light gray, nearly light enough to match the whites of his eyes. His hair was as black as the void of space and his skin more of a burnt umber than a true orange.

When a second or two passed longer than it should have, and Ashara realized he was surveying her as closely as she was him, she cleared her throat and pushed past to step into the hallway.

Careful to be quiet enough as to not wake anyone else in the house, Ashara spoke softly, “we are going to hide silently among the crops and wait. Nothing is going to happen, and then I am going to gather my things and leave before Nala wakes at sunrise, and you won’t breathe a word about it, understood?”

He nodded once, softly, his deep voice just above a whisper, “understood.”

Glad to have no objections, Ashara led him to the side door and pointed out the small path she’d made herself through the field closest there. Silently, the Sith followed her to her hiding spot among the tallest of the crops, tall enough to just almost hide the tips of her horns while standing. The Sith, being as tall as her horns standing, sat down next to her in the crop field.

Silently still, the two reached out with the Force to sense the approach of anything nearby. Ashara did her best to ignore the large presence of power at her side.

After several minutes of this, Ashara opened her eyes. She could see very little between the meters of tall crops in front of her. When she tilted her head upward she could see the stars that made up Dantooine’s atmosphere and could just make out the full moon.

When the Sith at her side stiffened, Ashara was sent into full alert. She sensed it moving quickly from the west: the unwavering, unmistakable presence of a Sith.

Great.

Without hesitation, Ashara stood, prepared to chase down the intruder before he could do something horrible to the family he’d been stalking. But the moment she stood, an arm grabbed her around the waist and another flew over her mouth so she couldn’t make a noise.

Every alarm bell went off in her head. This is a trap, they’re working together, you idiot, how could you have trusted a Sith? This is where you die.

But quickly Ashara realized, through the overwhelming Force energy of two Sith, she still had her lightsaber carefully hidden on her hip. Palms sweaty, she went to grab it — only to realize she’d left in sitting on her bed where she’d been meditating. Her heart pumped so fast she was sure it would fly out of her chest.

“Listen.” The Sith hissed into her ear, his breath warm against her skin, “that is Lord Andarus, Darth Iratius’ son. You attack him and we’re both dead. Nod if you understand.”

The gears turned in Ashara’s head. It wasn’t a trap. They weren’t working together, or she’d already be dead.

She nodded.

Slowly, the Sith silently moved his hand from her face, but hesitated. She supposed it was because he was waiting to see if she’d scream, but all she could focus on was the figure across the fields and the arm around her midsection.

She struggled to concentrate on the intruder, just in case he did something stupid, but it was difficult when a Sith was clinging to her. His breathing in her ear was steady and his grip on her strong, aided by the Force, surely. After a few more grueling seconds, he let go.

But Ashara knew she couldn’t allow Nala’s family to be hurt, and she knew Nala would be watching from inside the house.

She had to do something.

Before the Sith could react, Ashara concentrated and pushed outward with the Force, sending a gust of wind toward Lord whatshisface. The cloaked figure stumbled, but turned immediately in the direction of the Force push.

Too little too late, Ashara ducked down to where the Sith already crouched. With the Force she felt as the man darted in the direction he came and Ashara jumped to follow before she could be stopped.

Immediately he was out of sight, hidden somewhere in the shadows, but Ashara had the Force on her side. She used it to find a trail—the ghost of a path, and sprinted in that direction. The further she went, though, the more she felt the trail disappear until finally…

“Kriff.” She growled to herself, snapping her head in every direction. She found herself at the village center, calm and peaceful in the moonlit night. Neither Sith was anywhere to be seen.

In a last ditch effort, Ashara considered the one place she would go to if she was being chased.

The spaceport.

As soon as she arrived she felt the Sith Lord’s Force energy wafting at her from the entrance. Before she could even take a step inside, however, the familiar sound of a ship beginning its takeoff caught her attention, and she cursed again under her breath.

She looked up to see a small shuttle outlined by the moon, it’s only discernible markings that could be made out being its painted red tail. And like that, it jumped to hyperspace.

It was gone.

Ashara arrived at Nala’s house at sunrise, broken and defeated. For her weeks of work she had nothing to show for it. She was disheveled, tired, and empty.

“It’s about time.”

Ashara scowled, but otherwise completely ignored the Sith. As she went to pass him to get into the house, he grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

Ashara ripped her arm from his grasp, “Do not touch me. You ruined this. You ruined everything.”

The Sith allowed his hand to fall back down to his side. His eyes narrowed, “that’s a lot of anger for a former Jedi.”

Ashara bit her tongue and stomped past him, only to be greeted by Nala the moment she stepped into the door. By the look on her face Ashara could tell that Nala had already heard the news—that he’d gotten away.

“I’m so sorry, Nala.”

“Don’t be.” The short woman shook her head and placed her hand on Ashara’s arm. This time, Ashara did not pull away.

All Ashara could think about was sleep. She’d been awake since the sunrise of the day before at this point and was too tired to think. She was about to brush past Nala when she noticed the bag on her arm.

Ashara hesitated, “what’s that?”

“Oh!” Nala smiled her sweet smile, holding out the bag for Ashara to take, “He told me all about the plans you two made to track down this stranger. I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of collecting your things for you.”

Ashara blinked a few times, attempting to process what she’d just heard. _The plans we made, huh?_

“That was very sweet of you, Nala.” The Sith appeared in the doorway behind Ashara. She went to step away, but he caught her wrist behind her back and slid something into her palm.

Her lightsaber. Ashara felt like a complete idiot for having forgotten where she’d left it. She winced at the thought of what might’ve happened had she caught that Sith without a weapon to defend herself.

There were many things Ashara wanted to say. Most of all, that she wanted nothing to do with this man who seemed to have taken a morbid curiosity to her.

But she could barely keep her eyes open, much less argue, so instead she settled for words of kindness, “thank you for everything, Nala.”

Tears streamed down Nala’s face, but she quickly wiped them away when she caught the kids staring from the other end of the room.

“Thank you, dear.”

Through her haze, Ashara felt herself began to tear up and decided it was time to leave. Carefully, she hid her lightsaber in her sleeve and took the bag from her hostess.

As she followed the Sith outside, she prepared herself for another walk into town, but she was amazed to see a taxi waiting there for them. In her sleepy state the thought hadn’t even occurred to her.

After climbing into the taxi himself, the Sith leaned over and offered her his hand to the togruta. There were a lot of rude comments that flew through her head, but she was far too tired to realize any of them. Instead, she sighed and took his hand, allowing herself to get comfortable on the opposite end of the taxi seat.


	3. Chapter 3

Ashara woke slowly. Slower than usual. She wondered why she wasn’t being awoken by a knock at her door. And then it came to her.

The figure in the dark, the long walk, the Sith handing her her own lightsaber. The Sith whose name she still didn’t know. The Sith whose actions she still didn’t trust.

The Sith.

Where was the Sith?

Suddenly very alert, Ashara attempted to sit straight up—only to smack her horns and forehead into the metal of the bunk above her. Still in pain and dreary, she did her best to reach outward with the Force to detect any energies because, last she remembered, she had fallen asleep in a taxi.

Immediately, she found the Sith. That damned Sith. He was in another room somewhere down the hall. She couldn’t tell if the hall was in a house, ship, or something else, but she figured she’d soon find out.

But when Ashara stepped into that hall, a sense of dread washed over her.

She was on the ship. Her master’s ship.

It was all she could do to stay upright as she felt the all-consuming fear of several nightmares drench her, the suffering and the chaos now fresh in her brain.

As she gasped for air, she felt two strong hands at her shoulders. She would’ve been more panicked had she not already sensed him.

“Ashara. It’s alright. It’s only me and you. You’re on my ship.”

The last words rung in her ears.

Swallowing, still staring at the metal grating at her feet, she gasped, “what?”

He hesitated. She spoke again, “this is your ship?”

Finally she looked up at the Sith, and was taken aback by the way the red glow of the walls bounced off his skin, eyes, hair...she was lost for a moment before he snapped her out of it.

“It’s mine.”

Ashara could barely manage to blurt out the several things she wanted to say, still shaken up, “I thought...why am I here? I was in a taxi. This is kidnapping and if you don’t let me go I swear I’ll—“

She reached for her lightsaber.

It wasn’t there.

“It’s on your bedside.” The Sith assured her, his deep voice soothing, “you can check if you don’t believe me.”

Ashara turned and glanced into the familiar room, and, sure enough, there sat her lightsaber. It looked rather bleak against the background of the ship.

Another thought popped into her brain, “this ship is exactly the same as my master’s.” She quickly corrected herself, “former master’s.”

“Ah.” The Sith nodded once in the direction of the end of the hall. He led her to the room with the holoterminal and couches. Ashara shivered.

The two sat down on one of the metal couches before the Sith began, “Fury class vessels are often given to...for lack of a better term, more powerful Sith.”

Ashara was beyond relieved to find that this was not indeed her master’s ship. But still, it was creepy to be in nearly identical quarters to her old ones. She did her best to ignore the many memories surfacing and instead focused on the man in front of her.

She narrowed her eyes, “so you’re what, a Lord?”

When he didn’t respond immediately, Ashara swallowed and asked, a bit quieter, “a Darth?”

When he didn’t respond again, she knew she had her answer. She stood abruptly and took a step back. Who was this man? How had she allowed herself to be so close to someone so likely evil? How could she be so stupid?

“Relax.” He stayed seated, palms forward in a submissive manner, “if I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it while you were sleeping, now wouldn’t I have?”

“Not necessarily.” She took another step back. Another step closer to her lightsaber, “I may not understand the nature of them, but I know Sith play games. Maybe you just want to string me into a false sense of security before you stab me in the back. Is that why you kidnapped me?”

He sighed, and finally stood to speak to her as an equal, “this is not a kidnapping. You are free to leave. However, I will be searching for Lord Andarus—and I do happen to know exactly where he’s headed. But if you would rather go back to living on the streets, be my guest.”

For several seconds she was silent. But just like that, she was quick in her step back to the room she’d woken up in. In seconds she had her lightsaber in hand and stood at the end of the hall, the Sith in her view.

He cautiously put one hand towards her, but she had her eye trained on the other, behind his back.

He shook his head slowly, “Ashara…”

Her lightsaber clicked to life. In an instant, the togruta and her immediate surroundings were bathed in that powerful azure glow. The hum of pure energy fueled her spirit.

“Ash—“ The Sith was unable to finish his exclamation before he was leapt at.

Instantly, the arm behind his back was at his front, a large and heavy lightsaber in his grasp. He used the Force to bring it to life just in time to block his attacker.

But at the sight of his lightsaber, she hesitated.

It was crackling and groaning unlike anything she’d ever seen. The deep red-orange seemed to be dying, as if the crystal itself was mawed. Not only that, but it was one of the largest double-bladed lightsabers she’d ever seen.

In that second of thought, that one second, the Sith saw an opportunity. He used the Force to push Ashara as hard as he could, sending her flying onto the harsh metal floor. Her lightsaber fell from her grasp and she hurried to retrieve it—but not before the Sith landed on her, his knees digging into her palms and his lightsaber at her throat.

The sparks from the blade were worrisomely close to her skin, and Ashara strained to get away, but she was held down expertly.

After a few moments of both parties panting, Ashara breathed, “who are you?”

The Sith’s jaw clenched. She heard a click and watched as his lightsaber retracted, suddenly feeling a lot cooler.

But he did not remove himself from the position where he straddled her. Instead, he took it as an opportunity. using the Force, he pulled her lightsaber from its spot on the floor and caught it easily in his hand. He surveyed it for a moment but elected to set it down next to the two of them.

Ashara, meanwhile, was sweating profusely under his straddle. His Force energy swirled with hers and she did her very best to ignore the fact that she almost enjoyed the darkness mixed in with her gray.

Physically, she tried to ignore the intense pain in her palms and the heavy weight of the man on her midsection.

“I had to know if you really wanted to kill me.”

He gave her in incredulous look, “that was a stupid way to find out.”

She shrugged. Slowly and carefully, the Sith removed himself from her, allowing the lightsaber to stay at her side as he stood. Grateful for the sign of good faith, Ashara took her weapon and hooked it to her belt.

“I at least need a name to call you.”

He cocked his head to the side, “why?”

She scoffed, “well if we’re going to find this Sith together I can’t just keep referring to both of you as ‘the Sith.’ Plus, if we’re ever in a real combat situation, it would help to have something to yell.”

He nodded thoughtfully, but still seemed hesitant. Ashara sighed, “Okay, how about Darius?”

“Darius?”

“Close enough to ‘Darth’ that I’ll remember it and common enough that no one will question it.”

The Sith seemed to ponder on this for several seconds before nodding, “I like it.”

“Wonderful,” she commented sarcastically, then motioned toward the front of the ship, “shall we catch a Sith?”

A few hyperspace jumps later, the two found themselves orbiting a world that was incredibly familiar to both of them: Dromund Kaas. Ashara expected their descent to begin immediately, but for some reason the Sith paused at the controls.

“What is it?” She asked, only slightly annoyed.

He sat back in the pilot’s chair, turning to her as he did so, “it occurs to me that in your current clothing you may attract more attention than is necessary.”

Her first instinct was to argue, but one half glance down and she knew he was right.

He answered before she could ask, “don’t worry, you don’t have to wear my clothes, just a cloak.”

“I should probably wear something under the cloak, don’t you think?”

When he blinked quickly, the coloring of his face leaning a bit more on the warm side, Ashara had to stifle a chuckle, “that was a joke.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and settled for a half-smile. Ashara smiled slightly in return and headed back to the room she woke up in.

There she found her only other outfit and swapped it with her dirt-covered rags. She threw on the short-sleeved tunic and tight, battle-ready trousers. She re-equipped her lightsaber to her side.

When she found herself back on the bridge and saw no Sith there, she panicked. But her panic lasted only seconds as she felt a very familiar presence behind her. One that she knew—or hoped—had no intention of striking her down.

She turned to snap at him about being snuck up on, but stopped when she realized her was holding up a black cloak. A Sith’s cloak.

But Ashara knew it was her only option if she wanted to catch that rat. And, stars, did she.

Silently she put an arm through one hole, then the other. She did her best to ignore how close that brought her to the Sith, but, then again, his aura was so strong that he was difficult to ignore.

She attempted to push the sleeves up a bit as they were clearly too long for her arms, but the Sith quickly stepped in front of the togruta and pulled them back down.

Her brow furrowed. He motioned for her to bring her hands together, as if she were meditating.

“Leave them like that.” He commanded.

She realized immediately that this made her look more like a Sith. She also realized that the pureblood in front of her was staring at her rather intently.

She swallowed, “what?”

As if his reverie was broken, he shook his head and met her gaze, “hm? Nothing. It looks good on you.”

“Er, I...thanks.” She stammered.

He made his way back to the pilot’s chair. Ashara reminded herself to focus on the mission at hand.

The Fury-class vessel was allowed access into the spaceport hangar without even a holocall. Perks of being Sith, she supposed. They docked smoothly and cut the engines, but stopped at the door of the ship.

The Sith turned to Ashara, his expression deathly serious, “Lord Andarus lives near the citadel. He most likely arrived over 15 hours ago and will be on edge. To catch him by surprise we will need to infiltrate his private villa. But there is one more thing we need to discuss before we approach.”

Ashara cocked her head to the side, “our combat strategy? I assume we’ll be side by side the entire time.”

“No, not that.” He took a deep breath , “we need to discuss what we’re going to do when we do find Andarus.”

Ashara’s jaw clenched. The question had already run through her head a hundred times.

She answered him honestly, “I don’t know yet.”

“Ashara, you know that if we leave him alive—“

“I’ll figure it out, okay? I just need time to think.”

He nodded once before slipping his lightsaber into his sleeve. Ashara did the same, making sure that her disguise still looked somewhat natural—as natural as a Sith togruta could look.

The door to the ship opened, lowering to create a small bridge. When Ashara took in for the first time all the Imperial banners and technology around her, she felt something she hadn’t expected to: nostalgia.

The Sith at her side must have sensed it, because he offered a curious look before the two descended to the spaceport.

As they approached the entry terminals, Ashara stiffened. Several guards and droids stood there, idly chatting if not beeping and scanning away. But when the two “Sith” got closer, suddenly the chatter halted and every uniformed personnel stood at attention.

At that moment Ashara felt something emanate from her cohort. It was difficult to tell exactly what through the fog of his dark aura, but it felt similar to pride. Her immediate reaction was to be disappointed, but after a moment of introspection she could almost understand. The Sith were not respected by the Jedi and rarely by their own peers. It must have been nice to feel appreciated by someone.

The rest of the walk up to the taxi pad was uneventful other than the occasional salute from a uniformed personnel.

_Thank the stars we don’t have to pretend to do that._

The two climbed into the backseat of the hooded taxi, shielded from the whistling wind and shuddering rain. As the door closed automatically behind them, Darius input coordinates into the terminal and the taxi was off.

“Where exactly is this estate?” Ashara asked freely now that they were alone (save for the droid pilot in the driver’s seat).

He had to speak louder than usual so that his low grumble was not lost in the downpour, “near the Sith Sanctum. We’ll have to be careful to avoid eye contact. Just in case.”

Ashara nodded, the smallest seed of fear planting itself within her. As the Force around her shifted, the Sith went to place a hand on her knee, but thought better of himself and simply said, “Do not worry. Here, with me, you’re safe.”

Through the Force, she could feel that he really meant it. That calmed her a bit. Still, she worried, as she always did, but certainly she was more focused. More determined.

“Arriving at your destination.” The droid deadpanned from the front seat.

Ashara sat straighter and re-adjusted the lightsaber in her sleeve. Part of her itched for combat—for the good old days of striking down pirates on Hoth or beasts on Voss—but she understood those days were done. Now, she knew, she must do whatever she could to bring justice to those in need.

She needed to do whatever it took to save Nala.

Ashara followed the Sith out of the cab, momentarily annoyed that her hood could not cover her horns and shield her from the rain.

And in thinking this, something occurred to her.

“Si—Darius, he’s going to recognize me. He’s seen my horns.”

He glanced at her, his white-gray eyes unchanged, and hers shifted into a glare, “you’ve already thought of that. Of course you have.”

The Sith glanced around a bit before producing a small device from the pocket of his robes.

“It’s a holo disguise.” He gracefully clicked a button on the side and a small holofigure appeared before them, “so long as no organic being touches you, you will be completely unrecognizable as yourself.”

Suddenly eager, Ashara bounced slightly on her toes, “That’s...actually pretty cool. Do it.”

At her command, the Sith tapped a few more buttons and the device hovered from his hand to float above the togruta’s head. Ashara watched the blue glow of a hologram scan, then envelop her. The device fell and landed neatly in her open palm.

“Keep it on your person.” He noted, nodding to the device.

As Ashara stuffed it into one of her pockets, she realized she was still herself.

But before she could ask, he answered, “you will look the same to yourself. Only a reflective surface will reveal your true appearance.”

With a nod of understanding, Ashara finally turned to the building ahead of her. It was tall—taller than life, it seemed, and gray as her great-grandmother’s lekku. It blended in well with its surroundings other than the ornately crafted family crest near the doorway. The other thing of note that stood out to Ashara was the shuttle sat snugly at the side of the building—it would be camouflaged nearly perfectly if Ashara hadn’t noticed that red tail attempting to disguise itself among the red detail of the building.

“Shall we?”

Ashara nodded and followed the Sith to the front door. Her heart beat in her chest, but she couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or the prickle of fear.

As soon as the Sith rang the buzzer, someone arrived at the door—a human, rather than a droid, which surprised Ashara.

The feeble-looking girl must’ve been no more than Ashara’s age, but she was so skinny Ashara expected her to curl up into a ball at any moment and disappear. She realized quickly that this woman was a slave.

“May I help you?”

Ashara spoke before her companion could get a word in, “We’ve come to see Lord Andarus. Is he here?”

The woman visibly swallowed, “my apologies, but my master was not expecting company. I’m afraid he’s gone out for the evening. May I take a message?”

Again, before the Sith could speak, Ashara piped up, “oh? Usually Andarus takes his personal shuttle when he goes on his incursions, doesn’t he? Odd for him to leave it here.”

The slave shifted her feet, obviously growing more terrified by the minute. She attempted to sputter something out, but stopped when Darius took a step toward her.

When he finally spoke, his voice was the deepest and most menacing Ashara had ever heard it, “let us in, now. Or I will take this opportunity to punish you for your master myself.”

Chills ran down Ashara’s spine. It was the Sith-iest she’d ever heard her Sith, and it was almost jarring. A part of her felt like he was genuinely threatening the innocent woman, even though she knew he was bluffing.

After a beat of silence, the woman shamefully shuffled to the side to allow the guests to enter.

The inside of the estate was about as gloomy as Ashara expected a Sith Lord’s estate to be: gray, gray, and more gray.

“Where is he?” Ashara demanded, turning to face Darius and the slave girl.

“U-upstairs, miss.”

Without missing a beat, Ashara marched to the elevator and pressed the only option: up. The Sith caught up with her just before the door closed.

Nearly out of breath, he commented, “you know, for a former Jedi and Sith apprentice you are not what I would expect.”

Ashara scoffed, glancing back at him briefly, “I’m neither of those things. I’m just...me.”

Just than the doors clicked open and Ashara sprang to alert. There was nothing but a long, gray corridor ahead of them with a seemingly innocuous door at its end.

“I don’t like this…” Ashara murmured,

“Neither do I.” The Sith agreed, slowly making his way to her front, “let him see me first.”

Ashara had no idea why it mattered, but she nodded and followed slowly down the hall. The mirrors on either side caught her attention in passing by, as she finally noticed her reflection for what it was—a zabrak woman.

She wanted to ask why he’d felt the need to disguise her as a different species, but, knowing how close they could be to their target, Ashara held her tongue. She made a mental note to ask later on.

The Sith stopped in front of the door, but before he could even knock, it opened.

Startled, his first instinct was to reach into his sleeve and brandish his lightsaber.

But there was no one there.

In fact, the large room was entirely empty save for a small, portable holoprojector sitting in the center of the floor.

Cautiously, the Sith checked his corners before entering, then pointed his saber toward the projector, clearly expecting a trap. Ashara stood still in the doorway, one eye on their exit and one hand on her lightsaber, ready to fight.

Suddenly, one of the sparks from Darius’ unstable blade landed squarely on the center of the small projector. There was a beat of nothing, and then a holoprojection appeared.

From her place at the doorway Ashara could hardly make out the projection. Clearly he was human, with a few scars on his exposed face and arms, but nothing about his appearance seemed entirely alarming or Sith-y.

“Well well well.” His voice was somehow both soft and sharp at the same time, like a seductive predator, “I didn’t expect a Darth—excuse me, a former Darth—to have taken so much interest in my little project.”

“When your father’s errands disrupt the lives of innocent people, I tend to notice.” Darius hissed.

The projection laughed, “innocent? How naive. But I suppose a reject such as yourself wouldn’t be strong enough with the Force to sense the girl’s Force Sensitivity.”

Ashara froze.

Nala was Force Sensitive? _No, that can’t be. I would’ve noticed. I was trained for this. How could she possibly—_

Ashara’s thoughts were cut off by the Sith across the room, “of course I noticed. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a different Empire than it used to be. Simply being Force Sensitive no longer means one has to be sent to an Academy.”

“You are a fool.” The hologram spat, then turned slightly so that he was glancing over his shoulder, “and you can tell your pet that Imperial Intelligence has power over the Sith no longer.”

The projection disappeared and the room was bathed in darkness once again. A thousand thoughts jumbled their way through Ashara’s mind, and she struggled to form something coherent.

“Nala is not Force Sensitive; I wouldn’t noticed. And what did he mean by Imperial Intelligence? Who am I disguised as? And what did you mean by an Empire that—“

“Ashara.” He cut off her rambling, “I’ll answer all your questions. But for now we need to make our way to Hoth.”


	4. Chapter 4

Darius touched the keypad near the docking door to his ship. As soon as the door closed behind them. Ashara turned on her companion to block his path.

He peered down at her, lips parted as if to speak. But Ashara stopped him before he could by touching her fingers to his.

Her form immediately shifted in a flurry of blue light. Finally herself again, she felt comfortable speaking to the Sith.

“Tell me everything.”

The Sith nodded, but not before clearing his throat and removing his hand from hers. Ashara paid no attention. She followed on his heel to the main room of the ship, eager to know what was going on.

Once the two sat down, Darius began, “Nala is not Force Sensitive. That was a bluff.”

Ashara sat up straighter, “but you—“

“I know,” the Sith raised his hands, palms forward, before continuing, “like you said, we would’ve sensed her Sensitivity. Andarus, however, was never close enough to sense anything for himself. He likely received bad intel from one of his father’s underlings.”

“Okay…I suppose I can see the logic in that,” Ashara paused, “but Hoth? Why Hoth?”

He didn’t miss a beat, “Hoth is where Darth Iratius holds his base of operations. If Andarus was scared enough to abandon his personal villa, he would likely seek shelter in the next, most heavily guarded place.”

“But how do we know that’s where he is? We could be walking into a trap.”

“I’m glad you asked.” The Sith held up his forefinger and collected something from the table behind him—a datapad.

“This datapad holds valuable information regarding the last known locations of several high-ranking Darths. It is heavily encrypted and, yes, a gift from the Intelligence Officer you were disguised as.”

Ashara blinked, taking in several pieces of information at once. The thing that bothered her most, for whatever reason, was the mention of the “gift.”

“You were given this as a gift? Is she—I mean, was I disguised as your, er, girlfriend?”

The Sith huffed a bit, and Ashara could almost swear it was a chuckle, “No. My sister.”

_Sister?_

The togruta narrowed her eyes, “but I was disguised as a zabrak.” She paused, and something clicked in her head, “you’re half alien?”

Darius nodded slowly, one arm comfortably holding to back of the couch. This was clearly a conversation he was used to having.

“I’m sorry I just assumed—“ Ashara mumbled quickly, then cut herself off, “oh stars I thought your sister was your girlfriend. I am so sorry.”

The Sith chuckled sincerely this time. Suddenly a lump caught in her throat and Ashara found herself unable to say anything else. Deep down she felt a spark of...solidarity? Incredulity?...attraction?

Ignoring her feelings, the togruta reached out and grabbed the datapad from the Sith’s waiting hand. She scrolled quickly through the alphabetized Sith names—too quickly, as it turned out, because she passed Iratius’ name entirely and landed squarely on an all too familiar one. Darth Occlus.

Her master.

Beside his title and known aliases was a single phrase: “Status unknown.”

Quickly Ashara scrolled back through the names to find Darth Iratius. If the Sith before her noticed her hesitation, he said nothing.

And, of course, Iratius’ last known location, according to what was left of Imperial Intelligence, was Hoth.

“Why are you always right?” Ashara muttered to herself.

“Shall we?” The Sith asked, but took the datapad back before she could actually answer and headed to the bridge. Ashara elected to remain in her seat and meditate as the journey progressed. She considered her thoughts, emotions, outbursts, grievances…

“There is emotion. There is peace.”

She chanted the mantra quietly for several minutes until her muscles relaxed and her mind calmed.

“We’re here.” Said the Sith from across the room, his low voice carried over the soft hum of the idle engines.

Without a word, Ashara got to her feet and pulled the disguiser from her pocket.

She pressed her finger to the pad, just as she’d seen the Sith do, but nothing happened. Annoyed, she tried one and two more times until Darius appeared at her side.

“Here,” he said quietly as he pressed his own finger to the pad, “it’s a genetic lock. It will only respond to my bloodline.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks.”

As the machine lifted itself above her head and scanned her once again, Ashara tried to ignore how close the Sith was standing to her. She stared past his shoulder, but could not ignore the steady rise and fall of his even breathing. It was almost melodic.

Lost in thought, Ashara nearly jumped when the disguiser landed in her extended hand. Feeling foolish, she quickly shoved it into her pocket.

“How do I look?”

“Too tall to be my sister,” He half-smiled to himself, “but acceptable.”

“I can live with that.”

Darius stared at her for just a second longer, long enough for Ashara to notice, before turning and leading the way out of the ship.

Still in their Sith robes, the two made their way through the spaceport and to the taxi pad, lightsabers hidden in hand just in case.

The taxi took the two of them to the farthest taxi pad in the south, but denied going any further due to the temperature. Ashara thanked the stars that she could use the Force to keep herself warm if necessary, as the droid explained that the blizzard ahead would be too cold for its circuits.

“Fine.” Darius muttered, clearly irked, “let me make a call.”

The Sith pulled out a portable holoprojector and typed a holofrequency into the small keypad. Not wanting to interfere, Ashara stepped out of the taxi.

Icy wind snapped at her exposed face. Snow swirled around her in several directions and made it extremely difficult to make out the mountains in the distance. As Darius had explained it to her, the base would be well hidden and accessible only by those who knew its true location—or had the Force to guide them.

After another minute of mental preparing, Ashara sensed someone or something approaching from the North.

She tensed, lightsaber in a tight grip, but relaxed when the Sith finally exited the taxi and looked in the same direction. This was clearly the person he was expecting from his call.

The taxi zoomed off almost instantly. As it did, the approaching figure came into view. A man on a tauntaun.

With another in tow.

“Thank you, Karvic.”

From his seat on the tauntaun, the human bowed as low as he possibly could, “any time, my lord—_my lords._” He corrected himself after glancing at Ashara.

Ashara expected the man to jump down from his own beast, but she watched as he handed Darius the reigns to the one in tow and then as he kicked his own tauntaun, off once again in the direction that he came from.

“We’re sharing?” Ashara struggled to be heard over the steadily growing wind.

“Don’t worry,” The Sith called back, “I’m a good driver.”

Ashara rolled her eyes, and he continued, “as long as you don’t touch my skin your disguise will remain intact.”

For all her worrying, Ashara hadn’t even thought of the disguise. What she had to mentally prepare herself for was clinging to a Sith on the back of a tauntaun.

But she had little time to do so, because the Sith climbed easily onto the back of the animal.

He extended a hand to his companion, but realized he couldn’t touch her and retracted it. Ashara grumbled something about personal space as she climbed onto the tauntaun just as he had—only she had to awkwardly straddle herself against the Sith so that she’d still fit on the saddle.

“Ready?” He asked, a hint of jest in his tone.

“Just go, already.”

On her command, the Sith flicked the reigns and the tauntaun sprinted into action. Ashara quickly found that she had to wrap herself around the Sith’s midsection if she didn’t want to take a tumble into the snow. She did her best to keep her mind from...wandering, but it was difficult when she was forced to cling so tightly to the Sith’s muscular form.

Instead she turned her focus to the now howling winds and icy chips in the air, she did her best to use the Sith to shield her face from debris, but it attacked from so many directions that she found it futile to attempt to hide.

It seemed like ages before the tauntaun finally approached the mountainside—even at a full sprint. Ashara had no idea how long they’d been riding as the gray of the clouds and opaqueness of the wind completely blocked the planet’s sun.

“We should be close.” The Sith yelled, barely audible over the roaring wind.

Ashara closed her eyes and focused on what she felt with the Force. It was clear that several people regularly travelled nearby. Doing her best to focus with the wind and hail attacking her, Ashara did notice something. A signature feel of a familiar Sith had recently been nearby—very nearby.

“There!” Ashara yelled and pointed to a small crack in the side of the mountain.

As they approached, Ashara felt relief from both her companion and the tauntaun as the mountain worked to partially shield the three of them from the blizzard. The crack seemed to expand the closer they got—a clever camouflage hidden well by snow mounds and well-placed ice shards.

When they were close enough, the two jumped down from the tauntaun and Darius tied its reigns around one of the larger, jutting ice shards.

“Are you ready?” He could speak now in his normal voice with the wind shielded behind them.

Ashara firmly gripped her lightsaber in her right hand, not bothering to hide it any longer. She nodded, “ready.”

The crack in the mountain opened up after only a few meters into a beautifully large ice cave. Icicles and shards jutted dangerously from every direction, and despite the large entryway behind them, it was nearly so dark that it seemed the sun had set.

“At least there’s no wind,” Ashara mumbled, just as a gust of wind blew past, nearly knocking her off her feet.

“That came from the end of the cave.” Darius commented, immediately off in the direction of the wind burst.

Ashara followed, able to make out what was ahead of her only because the Sith’s lightsaber had an exposed crystal, the red-orange tinting him and his immediate surroundings. As she passed an ice wall, she caught her reflection and noticed how beautiful her disguise really was. The only real similarity she could see between Darius and his sister was the jet black hair they shared.

Ashara nearly stumbled into the Sith as he stopped suddenly, his left arm, the one holding his saber, extended.

She listened intently, but all she could make out was the now distant whistle of wind. When she reached out with the Force she once again felt the faintest hint of Lord Andarus up ahead. He had to have been there recently.

And then she heard something; the smallest whisper of metal on metal, again and again. A pickaxe, perhaps?

Without a word, Darius stepped forward again, this time cautious enough to not dare make a sound with his footsteps in the snow. Ashara followed his lead until the two approached a metal door that touched each wall of the cave, now nearly double the togruta’s height.

They froze as both sensed movement on the other side. Not just movement—several humanoids standing in battle formation, shifting their weight and adjusting their grips on their weapons.

“I’ve got the one with the saber.” Darius said, loud enough that the figures on the other side jolted.

Both the Sith and Ashara ignited their sabers, illuminating the cave in soft purple, just as the large door began to open.

As soon as she made eye contact with a gunner, Ashara leapt into action.

Her lightsaber met little resistance as she struck down one, then two men. The sound of lightsabers clashing and blaster fire was nearly deafening. Ashara used her saber to deflect several blaster bolts, carefully aiming them into her enemies’ paths. Several fell to the floor in crumpled heaps, and the ones that didn’t she focused on for only a moment before arcing her arm and throwing her lightsaber, cutting down the last three in one fell swoop.

The room fell to silence, and Ashara turned on her heel to see Darius standing over the body of a human Sith, both of their lightsabers still extended.

“Let’s go.” Ashara commanded, seeming to break the Sith out of some type of reverie.

The two took the left path, not bothering to sheathe their weapons. They passed several empty rooms and unattended consoles. Each room they passed set Ashara slightly more on edge, and by the time they reached a closed door she was the most alert she’d been in days.

Whoever was inside must’ve heard the steady hum of their lightsabers, because the door slid open and immediately out spilled blaster fire.

But Ashara was ready. She deflected several bolts before rushing into the room, striking down one enemy, then the next, then the next.

It took her a moment to even realize when the room was empty and that Darius was still standing at the doorway, relaxing from his battle form. She ignored him, slightly annoyed at his impromptness, and took in her surroundings.

The room seemed to be the command center. Several consoles of different types lined the walls and small stations covered in holoscreens sat about. The group they’d just fought—or she’d just fought—was clearly not battle-hardened.

But none of that mattered to Ashara. What mattered was finding that damned Sith. She lashed out with the Force, grasping for any lead she could find. It was difficult to sense much through the cloud of her own emotions.

Luckily, Darius seemed to be faring better than she was, “down the corridor.”

He was out the door and off. Ashara jogged back the way she’d come in and caught up to Darius...just as he killed a man with Force lightning.

A small surge of horror struck Ashara, even though she knew very well how hypocritical she was being. She herself had just killed several people and she’d seen her former master use the Force lightning technique many times. For some reason, though, seeing it release from Darius’ fingertips and course through a man’s suffering form seemed...despicable.

It hit her for the first time in a while that she was really working with a Sith. A Force user bound by hatred and rage, though he must’ve hid it well. She found herself feeling stupid, for the hundredth time that day, for trusting him.

Darius raised a brow at Ashara, who by now had probably been staring at him for quite some time. The hallway was dead silent other than the occasional spark flicking from the corpse at Darius’ feet.

“Are you alright?” He asked, taking a few tentative steps in her direction.

“Fine.” She growled.

She pushed her way past him and stomped further down the corridor. She knew she needed to set her feelings aside for the time being.

Still lost in thought, Ashara jumped when a familiar voice carried over the speakers above their heads.

“Watcher Seven.”

Ashara stopped dead. She knew about the Imperial Intelligence titles from her research. Whoever he was referring to must’ve been her disguise. Not only was she now putting herself in danger, but her disguise in danger.

Darius’ sister.

“It says here that you had some fun with the Republic forces on Ando Prime. Torture, dear? How scandalous. Any Sith would be proud.”

_Stop reading about her_. Ashara wanted to scream. She wanted to punch a hole in the wall and rip the Sith out by his teeth. But all she could do was rush down the corridor, opening every door she could and striking down any she couldn’t. She could sense Darius behind her, and was vaguely aware of him speaking.

The overhead voice continued, “using a lightsaber now, are we? Is that from one of the many Jedi you’ve killed...Ashara Zavros?”

She froze. No, the world froze. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. How did he know? Had he been toying with her this entire time? What was his game? _Where was he?_

“Ashara Zavros,” he continued, this time he spoke as if he were reading from a screen, “daughter of Rolend and Yanila Zavros. Aw, mommy and daddy died during the Sacking, did they? Fitting, but unfortunate. I would’ve enjoyed torturing them. Ripping through their insides before they could—“

Ashara launched her lightsaber into the ceiling. The voice abruptly cut off as she landed it directly into the overhead maintenance console.

Using the Force, she willed her saber back to her hand just as Darius appeared at her side.

“Your raging about is going to get us killed.” He spat.

Taken aback, Ashara snapped, “I’m not your apprentice. Do not try to command me.”

She stepped forward, about to push her way past, but he grabbed her arm rather forcefully and held her in place.

He looked her dead in the eye, “he’s goading you. This is what he wants. Clearly there is a trap set somewhere nearby and he is waiting for you to crash your way into it. Don’t give him that satisfaction.”

Jaw clenched and eyes narrowed, Ashara made herself breathe. She closed her eyes and reminded herself who she was doing all of this for: Nala.

Be smart for Nala’s sake, Ashara.

She opened her eyes and focused.

“Do you feel that?” She asked, voice steady.

He paused a moment before answering, “no. I sense nothing.”

“Exactly.” Ashara retracted her lightsaber into its hilt, “there’s no one left here. We’re alone.”

The Sith sighed and released her arm, “correct. We need to return to the ship and reassess our plan while we still have the opportunity.”

The two waited a few more minutes in the Darth’s base, just in case, but left soon after to avoid any reinforcements.

“I’m sorry for what happened back there.” Ashara said as she tossed her cloak and disguiser onto the metal table of the ship’s main room.

“I’m used to colleagues losing their temper,” He jested, but his tone quickly shifted, “you harbor strong emotions for a former Jedi.”

“Former Jedi Padawan.” She corrected, “and I don’t harbor enough rage for a former Sith Apprentice, either. A failure in every way.”

“Your combat skills are no failure,” he commented as he grabbed two datapads from the shelf and found his way to the couch. Ashara elected to pace in front of the table.

“Thanks.” She mumbled nonchalantly, barely listening.

“He won’t find much on you if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She stopped and turned to face him, “what?”

He removed his heavy cloak as he spoke, “I researched you as soon as I found out who you were. There is little on the holonet other than the information he gave and nothing beyond ‘captured by the Sith.’ Apparently the Republic and Jedi Order still consider you to be missing in action.”

She scoffed, “That’s disappointing. Not surprising, but disappointing. You’d think after I reached out to so many Jedi they would have at least officially changed my status.”

He raised a brow, but she waved him off, “Gray Jedi I was looking to recruit to...a cause. Something that I now realize is stupid.”

The Sith didn’t press for elaboration. Instead he nodded to his right, past the holoprojector, “you may take some time to meditate, if you wish. Quietest room is the first door on your right.”

She was a bit surprised that he already knew her well enough to know how much she enjoyed her meditation. Not that it was kept a secret.

“I will...thank you, Darius.”

She made her way to the hall, her boots clicking against the metal of the ship’s floor. As she approached, she realized he’d given her directions to the captain’s quarters.

His room.

She nearly stopped herself from entering, feeling as if she was invading his personal space, but allowed herself to relax a bit. She stepped inside and the door closed behind her.

It was deafeningly quiet. Against the farthest wall and taking up the most space in the room was a luxurious dark bed with a dark rug underneath. Small tables sat on either side of the bed, empty, and shelves lined the walls. Occasionally a shelf held a trinket or piece of technology, but other than that the room was completely empty. It did not surprise Ashara that the room was nearly devoid of personality. The Sith didn’t much seem like the interior design type.

Carefully she climbed onto the bed, as it was her only option, and sat in its center. She crossed her legs and set her lightsaber down at her side, extinguished blade facing the door.

She closed her eyes and breathed, “There is emotion. There is peace. There is passion. There is serenity. There is death. There is the Force.”

Several times she repeated the quote to herself until her whispers grew quieter and her mind more blank. Eventually, the exhausted woman found herself drifting to sleep.

“Ashara!”

_No_.

But Ashara couldn’t help herself. She had to say it.

“I’m sorry, what?”

But Andronikos said nothing more. In fact, he didn’t move. Nothing moved. The space battle in front of Ashara’s eyes was completely frozen—every blaster bolt held in place.

Ashara sensed great dread.

Slowly she turned...and a dark-haired woman stood there, staring intently at the togruta.

Ashara tensed.

The woman smiled.

And Ashara couldn’t help but scream.

“Ashara! Wake up!”

The Sith’s deep, commanding voice broke through the haze of the dream. Ashara woke suddenly, immediately grabbing at her side for a lightsaber that wasn’t there.

Once she recognized that she was awake, that it had simply been another nightmare, she allowed herself to breathe.

And she realized that the Sith was leaning over her, straddling her midsection.

Again.

“Nightmare.” She mumbled, using her palms to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“I assumed.” He breathed, clearly just calming down, “you’ve been screaming in agony for several minutes.”

Ashara blinked in surprise, “it only felt like seconds. That woman...I couldn’t help it.”

“Tell me.” His tone did not falter.

“It’s just this dream I’ve been having. I don’t want to talk about it.”

He clearly wanted to protest, but pushed no further. He was silent.

Ashara found herself staring. She watched as a dark hair fell out of place and brushed his jaw. She watched as his chest moved steadily up and down under his thin, dark tunic.

She cleared her throat, “can you get off of me now?”

He snapped out of his own trance and quickly removed himself from her.

“I apologize.” He took a deep breath and brushed himself off, “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m not used to being awoken at midnight to the sound of screams.”

“Sorry.” She muttered again, focused on bringing down her heart rate and breathing.

His deep voice was soothing, “you don’t have to tell me anything, but the more I know the better I can help, Ashara.”

She shivered. She thought it might be her clothes—designed for desert weather, after all—but she knew better.

It took her a moment to remember that she was in his room and on his bed. She gathered herself, noting that her lightsaber had been placed on the bedside table and grabbing that as well.

As she left the room, headed toward the bunks across the hall, she called a single word back without turning her head, “goodnight.”


	5. Chapter 5

It must’ve been only an hour or two of tossing and turning before Ashara accepted her fate and chose to get prepared for the day to come. She expertly tiptoed around the ship (something she’d learned to do so as not to disturb her crew mates back in the day) until she made her way to the ‘fresher. The water fell quietly and the warmth and steady pressure felt heavenly on her skin. After a few minutes she sighed and stepped out, retrieving her clothes from the wash as she did so.

Once fully dressed, Ashara wandered into the storage room in search of something to sustain her appetite. He, of course, was already there.

The Sith tossed her a protein pack. The togruta caught it effortlessly and tore it open without a second thought.

“The way you move around the ship I’d think you’ve been living here.”

She scoffed between bites, “it feels like I never left.”

The Sith sent her a curious look, “Do you ever miss your master?”

She shrugged, “sometimes. He was kinder than most Sith. He always had something wise to say. I just wish he could give me advice now.”

The Sith clearly wanted to ask what happened, but by the look on his face he decided better of it.

Despite it being so early, the Sith was already well-groomed with his dark hair combed neatly and his boots shined. He stared at Ashara as she ate.

“What?” She mumbled, mouth full.

He shook his head, “I apologize. I was lost in thought.” He pulled over the datapad he’d had sitting next to him that Ashara hadn’t noticed until then, “I may have found us a lead.”

Ashara waited for him to continue, “I contacted my sister, the one in Intelligence. She told me that Darth Iratius has gone completely into hiding, but his son is not so lucky. He is currently docked at Dantooine.”

Ashara nearly choked on her food, “what are we doing here? We need to move now! Before—“

“Relax. I have someone scouting onworld. If he leaves that spaceport, we’ll be the first to know.”

She did relax a bit, but Ashara remained tense. She feared greatly for Nala’s safety.

“I’m setting a course for Dantooine.” She proclaimed, leaving the room before he could interject.

She was nearly on the bridge when he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

“Stop. Andarus will have someone watching the skies. The moment we arrive he’ll be on the ground and Nala will be in danger.”

She ripped his hand from her, “I don’t care. She’s counting on me. I need to do whatever I can.”

Immediately she turned and headed for the console.

She heard him sigh from behind her, “you may be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you.” She grumbled.

In seconds the ship was launching into hyperspace. Ashara did her best to avoid thinking about her nightmare which meant chanting her meditation in her head.

_There is emotion. There is peace. There is emotion. There is peace._

As the ship arrived in Dantooine’s atmosphere, she felt herself relax a bit. At least now she was on the same planet as Nala.

The togruta knew now that the disguise would be no use. She made sure her lightsaber was clipped to her belt as she flew the ship towards the spaceport.

As soon as they landed, the ringing of an incoming holocall sounded from Darius’ pocket.

He answered, “yes?”

A male voice, deeper even than Darius’, sounded from the other side. Ashara was too busy gathering herself to glance at the hologram.

“He just exited the ship. But he’s heading North.”

“North?” Ashara cut in, “Nala’s house is to the South.”

“It must be a distraction.” The Sith said to himself, then spoke a bit louder, “follow him. Ashara and I will go to Nala’s house. Don’t call unless it’s urgent.”

The holo flickered away. The two quickly made their way off the ship and through the spaceport, electing to rent a speeder rather than take a taxi.

They half expected to meet resistance along the way, but they arrived in half the time with no issue.

It was upon arrival that Ashara truly became fully alert. There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Other than the fact that it was mid-morning and no one was tending to the crops.

This concerned Ashara.

She jumped off of the speeder at her first chance and ignited her saber.

Besides the mild gusts of wind, it was quiet. Too quiet.

Ashara found herself hesitating at the edge of the field. She was ready to face what was ahead, but still afraid of what she might find. The speeder’s engine cut and Darius appeared at her side.

He waited with her a moment before saying anything, “are you ready?”

She nodded, then led the way to the front door.

The house was dark. Cold. Ashara used her lightsaber to illuminate their immediate surroundings in soft blue. Slowly, she tiptoed into the main living space—empty. Then the first bedroom—again, empty. This happened again and again, her heart rate increasing each time, until they got to the last room.

Her old room.

From outside the door she sensed nothing, but Ashara knew well that one could hide themselves with the Force. Bracing herself, she kicked the wall panel with her boot and the door rushed open.

Empty.

Nala and her family were nowhere to be found. This concerned Ashara more than anything else possibly could have.

“Where—“

But she was cut off as Darius’ holo went off again. As he lifted it and clicked the button to answer, all Ashara could hear was the pounding in her ears.

“She’s here.” Said the man on the holo. He was crouching and his voice was low, “she matches the description you gave me. Andarus is saying something to her, but I can’t get close enough to hear it.”

“We’re on our way. Don’t interfere unless you have to.” Darius told him.

The hologram nodded and disappeared. Ashara was on the Sith’s heel as they dashed back to the speeder. Darius input the coordinates he’d been sent through the holo into the speeder, pushing it forward just as Ashara clambered on.

The long drive to the Northern desert was grueling. Ashara felt herself go through several emotions, and had to chant to herself as they sped along, “There is emotion. There is peace.”

When they began to approach the coordinates’ location, Darius slowed until the engine was at its quietest. Despite his unwavering exterior, Ashara could feel worry seeded deep within the Sith. For a moment she was thankful to know that he wasn’t completely heartless, as most Sith were, and she felt bad for assuming. She also realized she knew very little about him beyond his wanting to help her.

Her thoughts were cut short when she spotted something in the distance: a caravan.

Three bantha were being led by what looked like military officials. Their pace was clearly too quick, as the bantha were protesting loudly enough for her to hear from hundreds of meters away. She squinted, but could see little other than the large animals, grass, and endless desert beyond.

“We need to get closer.” Ashara whispered near the Sith’s ear.

“We can follow, but once the grass has dwindled we’ll be out in the open. We need a plan for our approach beyond that.”

Ashara wanted to protest, but knew he was absolutely correct.

And then she remembered the holocall, “where’s your contact?”

“Here.”

Ashara jumped from her seat, lightsaber extended in an instant. She sliced the tall grass in front of her to see a zabrak man standing further among it.

His skin was a dark red, covered in elaborate black tattoos, and his eyes a bright orange.

His voice was, of course, the same as that she’d heard on the holocalls, “I’m sorry, I was shrouding myself with the Force. I assumed you would hear me coming.”

A Force user? Ashara returned her saber to her side, “are you a Sith?”

He blinked, looking almost amused, “I am. I’m surprised my brother didn’t tell you.”

Ashara turned to Darius, incredulous, “how many siblings do you have?”

He gave a small chuckle, “only four.”

“Anyhow.” The zabrak chimed in, his deep voice like an anchor in the conversation, “the woman you’re seeking is on top of one of the banthas. Lord Andarus is walking alongside the first.”

Darius nodded thoughtfully. The zabrak spoke again, “brother...he’s kidnapped children too.”

“We know,” he murmured, staring at the ground as he thought, “they’re Nala’s.”

Before Ashara could ask what the plan was, the zabrak pulled something from his pocket.

Ashara gasped, “a stealth generator!”

“I brought one for each of us.” He handed Ashara hers and quickly she went to activate it.

Darius grasped her wrist, preventing her from doing so, “wait. We need to establish a strategy.”

Ashara plucked his gloved fingers from her arm, “I go now and take care of the Sith, how about that?”

“So were killing him?” Darius asked, eyes boring into hers.

She flinched, “if it comes to that, yes,”

“He’s kidnapped Nala and her children, Ashara. We can’t leave him alive long enough to give the order to kill.”

Ashara thought for a moment. She glanced at the zabrak, who watched them with his hands clasped behind his back, an amused look on his face.

“Fine.” She muttered, “we’ll kill him before he can hurt them.”

As she prepared to turn on the stealth generator, she turned to the zabrak, “I’m Ashara, by the way.”

“So I’ve heard.” He smirked, “Darth Volentus.”

Ashara wanted to quip _are all your siblings Darths, too?_ but kept her mouth shut. She activated the stealth, watching as her companions shifted into nearly invisible figures among the grass.

The three snuck into the desert with Ashara at the lead, their pace fast. She made sure not to go so fast as to stir up sand, however. The caravan was already far enough out that without a speeder it would take hours to catch up, but Ashara was perfectly willing to do so. It was missions like these where she was incredibly grateful for her Jedi training. She may not have learned the delicate art of patience, but she had learned willpower and persistence.

Dantooine’s sun was high above when they finally were close enough to begin preparing for an assault. The two Sith stopped as Ashara did.

She peered ahead to the banthas, now able to clearly see the two children tied to the last creature’s back. She could see the sun glinting off of the dried tear trails on their faces. She pushed down her anger and forced herself to remain calm.

With a deep breath, Ashara mentally prepared herself. She knew that if she acted quickly and used the Force, she could propel herself from one bantha to the next in a matter of seconds.

She reached for her lightsaber.

And suddenly, her stealth field disappeared.

One of the Sith at her side used the Force to reveal a stealth-detecting droid in the sand in front of them.

Several men on the caravan shouted. The element of surprise gone, Ashara was just barely able to propel herself onto the back of the bantha. She unleashed her lightsaber and tore the brilliant blue through the ropes connecting the captive children to the animal.

By now, the Imperials had begun shooting. Ashara deflected several bolts from both sides before vaulting to the next bantha. With a deep breath, she pushed out with the Force and sent the surrounding men flying into the sand on their backs.

And then she saw Nala.

Nala stood in front of the caravan, now completely at a stop, with a lightsaber at her neck.

Through the corner of her vision, Ashara caught the Sith striking down Imperials on the ground, easily taking down groups of three and four at a time.

“Stop!” She yelled, loud enough for them to freeze just as they finished off the last of the lackeys.

Ashara jumped down to the ground, using the Force to soften her fall. She made eye contact with Andarus—whose face was now twisted and scarred by corruption—and tossed her lightsaber to the side.

“I’m at your mercy.” She called, raising her arms in surrender, “please, just let her go.”

The only sounds to be heard in the open desert were Nala’s sobs and the hum of pure energy emanating from the now three active lightsabers.

Nala’s dark hair was unkempt. She wore her nightgown, clearly having been taken before sunrise. Her soft laugh was now a terrified cry and her bright eyes pouring.

The Sith Lord aimed his lightsaber closer to her throat, expertly so in that it didn’t touch her neck. Nala was gasping now, unable to move any further back with the Sith’s fist in her hair.

“You and I can both feel it.” Ashara pleaded, “she’s not Force Sensitive.”

The Sith’s head tilted, and he smiled. Ashara felt her gut clench, “her? You thought I meant her?” He laughed, an evil, wretched sound, “I said the girl, you idiotic alien scum.”

The girl. Ashara whipped around, only to see the children caught in the arms of two soldiers who had apparently been stealthed themselves. She turned back when Nala yelped.

But she was too late. Nala’s body crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap. The children screamed. Ashara blinked.

And the Sith leapt at her.

Before she could even think, Ashara reached a hand up and caught the Sith midair with the Force. His red eyes widened as she choked him, invisible hands wound around his neck with inhuman grip. The man dropped his saber and clawed at his throat, legs kicking wildly.

All she felt was anger. Hatred. It was unfair.

“Nala didn’t deserve to die.” She whispered.

She relished the feeling as the last of the air left his lungs and he took his final, short breath. He hung limp in the air, but it wasn’t enough. Ashara clutched harder with the Force, until she heard his bones snap, one by one…

“He’s dead, Ashara.”

Darius placed a hand on her shoulder, and Ashara snapped out of it instantly. The Sith crumpled in the sand.

Ashara felt...lost. Not vengeful. Not glad. Just...incomplete.

But she turned quickly when the children’s crying rushed back into her ears, like a wave crashing into the shore.

The zabrak stood above them, the two Imperials laid dead on the ground, the kids sobbing into each other’s arms.

Ashara felt their anguish and despair through the Force. She swallowed, and approached them slowly.

And when she did, she felt a tiny spark of something she hadn’t before. She’d never paid enough attention to notice it, but from the girl came the smallest bit of familiarity. Of the Force.

She struggled to remember their names, “...Mei? Lutis?”

The children peered at her through their tears, clearly terrified. Ashara took a deep breath, “I am so sorry. You have no idea. But I need you to come with me and my friends now, okay?”

“Are we...going home?” Mei asked between sobs.

“I…” Ashara actually had no idea what to do with them, “we’ll see, okay?”

The kids nodded. Heartbroken, Ashara helped them onto one of the banthas and had the Sith gather Nala’s body while she distracted them. Once they were ready, Ashara picked her lightsaber up from the sand and glanced over at the Sith’s body.

Without a word, she took his lightsaber and boarded a bantha.

It was past nightfall when they arrived at Nala’s house. Ashara helped the children into their beds and tucked them in. They were asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows, to which she was grateful.

She closed the front door to the house as quietly as she could. Darius stood waiting for her on the porch.

His dark, tall figure would look menacing in the night had she not already known him, “my brother found someone in the village who’s willing to take them in. They’ll be picked up by a neighbor before sunrise tomorrow.

Ashara nodded, “and what about the girl’s Force Sensitivity?”

“The neighbor is aware.” Darius explained, “he has my personal holofrequency and will contact me if there are any issues.”

“Good.” Ashara murmured.

“I think it’s time we get some rest.” The Sith said quietly and then, as if an afterthought, he added, “can I ask you something?”

Ashara raised a brow at him, “sure.”

“Why take his lightsaber?”

She glanced down at her left hip, now adorned with Lord Andarus’ lightsaber. She looked back up at the Sith and shrugged, “I used to always have two. I was trained to use two. Why not?”

The Sith nodded, seemingly in approval. The two sped towards the spaceport on the rented speeder, returning it as they left for the ship.

Darth Volentus was waiting there at the ship for them.

“He lives on Dromund Kaas.” Darius explained, “we’re taking him home.”

“Ah.” Ashara said, too worn out to say much beyond that.

The three boarded the Fury vessel and set a course for Dromund Kaas. As the ship flew itself in auto-pilot, the three Force users sat on the couch next to the holoterminal.

“Thank you. For everything.” Ashara said to the zabrak. Though she meant what she said, her voice was hoarse and deadpan.

“Anything for a friend of my brother’s.” He smiled.

“I hadn’t realized I’d earned friend status.” Ashara mumbled, just loud enough for them to hear.

Darius, grinned, tongue in cheek, “generally when I meet someone who’s not wearing pants, we become friends rather quickly.”

Volentus was unable to quench his snickering, “my, you must be closer than I thought.”

Ashara felt her face grow warm, “that’s not—it wasn’t like that. He surprised me.”

“I’ll say.” The zabrak chuckled.

Ashara changed the subject, “so is your mother the zabrak? Or your father?”

They glanced at each other in a way that completely sobered the room, then answered at the same time, “mother.”

She wondered about the shift in mood, but didn’t mention it, “Why don’t you have the tattoos, Darius?”

When Volentus cocked his head curiously, she explained, “he won’t tell me his real name, so that’s what I call him.”

He nodded thoughtfully, seemingly unfazed by the answer. Apparently it was normal for Darius to not give out his name to just anyone.

“I chose not to get them when I came of age.” He answered, referring to the tattoos, “hence why I appear more Pureblood than my siblings.”

Ashara pondered this, but didn’t press further. Volentus was, once again, unfazed.

Just then the ship pulled out of hyperspace, marking its arrival at Dromund Kaas. Ashara left to her quarters to allow the brothers to say their goodbyes.

As she felt the ship pull into the orbital station, she set down her lightsabers side by side on the unused top bunk.

She sat down to meditate, but sleep came to her before she could even begin.


	6. Chapter 6

“Ashara?”

“Master?” She mumbled, eyes blinking drearily.

“Er, no. It’s me. Darius.”

She blinked a few times before realizing what she’d said, “oh. Erm, sorry, I...forgot.”

“It’s alright.” He sat at the end of her bed, “while we were on Dromund Kaas I ordered you some new clothes.” He nodded to the bunk opposite hers, which now had several boxes piled on top of it, “of course you are still free to leave. It’s a gift. I just thought it might make things easier here for you.”

Still tired, she shook her head, “I don’t want to leave. I mean, I don’t have anywhere to go. I mean...thank you.”

“Before all of this. Before you met me.” The Sith stared at her, his composure as perfect as usual, “what were you doing?”

“Helping. In any way I could.” She shrugged, “that’s all I feel I can really do anymore.”

He nodded, and she asked, “and you? What were you doing?”

“Exactly the same.” He half-smiled, “if you can believe that, coming from a former Sith.”

“Why are you no longer a Sith? What does that even mean?”

He took a deep breath, “I left the Sith Order. I informed the Dark Council that I no longer wished to be a part of the Sith’s...everything. I was told that this was ‘unheard of’ and that I would likely be hunted by other Sith that disagreed with my decision.”

“And so? Have you been?”

“It’s only been just over a month. So far no takers.” He huffed a bitter laugh.

Before she could ask anything further, the Sith stood and made his way to the door, “I’ll be in my quarters if you need me...and good morning.”

As soon as the door panel closed, she felt her mind race. She had a million questions she needed the universe to answer and felt she would get none.

But above all, she was grateful. Despite what horrible events had occurred, for which she still mourned, Ashara had a place to sleep, food to eat, and someone she felt she could trust—even if that was foolish.

Hesitantly she looked through the first box of clothes, mostly grays and blacks, and then rifled through the second. In the third she found a gray tunic and soft, white trousers. When she tried them on and they fit perfectly, she found herself nearly smiling.

The togruta attached her lightsabers to her sides, always precautious, and wandered down the hall and past the living space to find herself a meal.

As usual, it was a simple fare of carefully packed travel food, but she didn’t mind. She scarfed it down in minutes and found herself meditating there in the kitchen.

Instead of chanting, or dwelling, she forced herself to clear her mind. Her thoughts slowed and eventually halted until there was nothing but the soft murmur of the idle engine.

Ashara sat like that until she heard something in the distance. Music? A holo?

No. A scream.

The scream became more and more high pitched and sharp until Ashara found herself unable to move. When she opened her eyes she saw the endless reach of sand.

When she looked down, she saw Nala’s children, screaming.

Specifically, she made eye contact with Mei, the Force Sensitive one. Ashara could sense her loneliness, her shock, but above all, her terror. The little girl was forced to look away from Ashara to watch the man standing in front of her. His eyes were dark and cold, full of menacing ideas. He stood tall with an elegant cape flowing at his back and claws adorning the tips of his gloves. His scarlet lightsaber was unsheathed.

And held directly above her brother’s head.

Ashara tried to call out, tried to move, but her body wouldn’t listen.

And then the lightsaber came down.

Ashara fell backwards from her chair, metal clashing and scraping among the kitchen as she did so. She scrambled to her feet and yelled the only thing she could think to, “Darius!”

The Sith must’ve heard her fall, because he was in the room in an instant, “what’s wrong? What happened?”

He helped her steady herself as she struggled to form a coherent thought, “a vision—it was on Dantooine, I think, and Mei saw me but, a Sith—“

“Are they okay?” He cut her off, his expression grim.

“No.” Ashara breathed, “call. Please.”

Darius nodded and quickly paced to the holoterminal. Ashara was not far behind and stood at his side as he typed the holofrequency.

The holo rang. The first few seconds were like agony for Ashara, but the several after that were pure torture.

Finally, a man she’d never seen before answered. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, and his tone was that of annoyance, “yes?”

“Kaedin? This is the Sith Lord who has entrusted you with the safety of Nala’s two children. Tell me their current condition. Now.”

The man froze for a second before uttering that he’d be back and disappearing from sight.

Ashara didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she felt something touch her knuckle.

The Sith brushed his hand against hers in comfort, “it’ll be okay. Relax.”

Not in the mood to argue, Ashara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She forced her shoulders to relax and her mind to slow. When she opened her eyes again, the man was back at the holo.

“They’re both asleep in bed. I swear.”

Darius glanced to Ashara for her input. She narrowed her eyes at the stranger, “those children are in grave danger. Do as I say and no harm will come to you. Take them to the spaceport and do not take your eyes off of them. Not even for a second. We’re on our way.”

The man looked like he wanted to argue, but glanced to the Sith at her side and thought better of it, “alright, fine.”

Ashara left the room and immediately set a course for Dantooine. She waited until she heard the Sith’s following footsteps to make the jump to hyperspace.

“I had a vision of the future.” She explained, without looking at him, before he could ask, “my masters used to guide me through them. Jedi, not Sith.”

“Do you get these often?” The Sith asked, his tone perpexled.

“Not since I was little. I think it has something to do with Mei’s age.”

Just then, the ship came out of hyperspace and Dantooine was in view. Ashara was out of her seat in an instant.

Darius elected to stay on the ship just in case a speedy exit was necessary. Ashara bustled through the spaceport, annoyed to not have a Sith to get her past Imperials faster, in search of the man she saw on the holo.

When she’d peered up and down every section of the main building, she began to panic. Her mind began to wander and she had horrible thoughts concerning what might have happened. What could have possibly—

“Mei!” She yelled, as she spotted a short girl with familiar dark curls bouncing around the corner.

Ashara rushed to catch up. She turned the corner to see the children there. Alone.

“Where’s your guardian?” Ashara demanded as she raced to their sides, inspecting the kids to make sure they were completely unharmed.

“I’m here!” The man yelled, out of breath, as he stumbled over to the three of them. He was disheveled, clearly just out of bed, “I’m sorry, I had to pay off an officer to let us through this early. These little brats wandered—“

Ashara pulled the children to her sides and covered their ears as she hissed at the man, “I told you not to let them out of your sight. What part of that is so hard to understand?”

He apologized again, but otherwise appeared unmoved. Ashara nearly swore at him.

“Listen.” She struggled to find a way to phrase her words, “for their safety, these two are coming with me. I’ll have them back once I know they’re safe.”

He looked flabbergasted, “You can’t just—“

“Kaedin.”

An unfamiliar voice sounded from behind her. Ashara turned on her heel.

Her blood ran cold.

It was the Sith from her vision.

“Master.” The disheveled man replied, bowing deeply.

Ashara’s blood rushed to her ears. She was alone in the spaceport, between two Sith, and had no choice but to protect the children at her sides.

“Ashara Zavros, I take it?” He growled, his clawed finger rubbing his chin, “it seems you recognize me, as well. I suppose I should introduce myself, then. Darth Iratius.”

He made no move other than to sneer. Ashara carefully shuffled the children behind her, backing up slowly. Suddenly she wished she’d brought a personal holocom to make an emergency call to her waiting Sith.

“You can relax, dear. You’re in _friendly_ territory after all.”

His yellow eyes narrowed menacingly.

“Run.” Ashara said. When no one moved she grabbed Mei’s arm, without taking her eyes off the Sith, and repeated herself, “towards the ships. Run.”

Finally, they caught on and full sprinted further into the spaceport. The Sith made no move.

“How fun.” He grumbled, his fake smile now a scowl, “a chase. Go, apprentice.”

The man from the holo was off in a second. Ashara cursed under her breath and chased after him, no longer having the luxury to keep her eyes on the dangerous Darth. She unsheathed her sabers and was fast enough to not only catch up to the apprentice, but to leap over him and land squarely in his path.

Several surrounding guards were on alert, but dared not interrupt a Sith battle. The man she’d blocked brandished a saber of his own from within his sleeve and wasted no time in his attack.

Ashara blocked several swings before parrying and striking. He effortlessly avoided the attack and scowled, parrying a few more times and then using the Force to push Ashara backward.

She flew into the air and landed several meters away, crashing in between a potted plant and a bench. The togruta hurried to her feet as the Sith charged, standing just in time to block his strike with both sabers.

“Your worry blinds you. You are weak and pathetic.” He spat, his whiny voice barely audible over the hum of three lightsabers.

Ashara ignored him. With the leverage of two lightsabers she pushed him off and pushed again with the Force, sending the man flying into a small group of guards.

As he struggled to disentangle himself, Ashara took the opportunity to dash to the safety of the ship. She clambered into the first hangar and ran straight past the checkpoint, but wasn’t stopped due to the lightsabers in her grasp. She was sure it helped that one of them was red.

The ship sat calm and unmoving, as if nothing had ever happened. Cautiously, she approached. Before she could get to it, though, the bay door opened and Darius stood in its entry.

“The children are in here.” He called, “hurry!”

She did as she was told. Just as Ashara boarded and closed the door the ship was off, racing at full speed into the atmosphere.

“I found them wandering near the ships looking terrified,” he explained as soon as she stepped onto the bridge. She noted that the kids were buckled into the copilot’s chair together, their disposition more wary than scared now.

“I saw the Sith from my vision. Spoke to him, actually. He is Andarus’ father.”

“Not surprising.” Darius mumbled, focused on piloting the ship, “and my contact?”

“His apprentice.”

Darius slammed his fist against the console. The children jumped.

Ashara struggled to stand straight and hold onto a wall panel as blaster fire hit the ship from behind. Her knees buckled. She thought back to the battle of her nightmares. Andronikos. Her master. That strange woman.

“Hold it together, Ashara.” Darius had to yell over the constant stream of fire, “I need you to activate the shields before we lose an engine.”

Without a word the togruta stumbled to the copilot position, nearly falling as she leaned over the occupied chair. Her muscle memory led her to the correct order of buttons and switches to set the shields to full capacity.

“Now hang on.”

Ashara floundered into the captain’s chair, buckling herself in a second. The blaster fire continued in an endless stream, but it was now partially muted by the shield.

“We’re in the atmosphere, but our shields won’t hold long under constant fire.” Darius was doing his best to maneuver the ship and plan at the same time, “we need to make a landing somewhere.”

“We can’t go back down,” Ashara blurted, “Iratius could still be there.”

“Camooine it is.” Darius stated matter-of-factly. The ship veered sharply to the right and sped off toward the closest planet in the system.

With the careful, but apt, avoidance of space debris and a small asteroid field, they had effectively lost their pursuer. But the two knew it would be naive to assume they’d given up the chase.

“Can’t we just jump to hyperspace?” Ashara asked as Camooine came closer and closer into view.

“They’ll be expecting that, and likely have a tracker on the ship already. I have a plan for once we land.”

“This is insane—“ Ashara began to argue, but cut herself off when she noticed the startled, terrified faces of Nala’s children. Her voice became soft, “hey, hey, it’s okay. We’re going to land on this planet and my friend will save us from the bad guys, okay?”

They slowly nodded. Ashara sighed and glanced at Darius, who was already staring at her. They shared an uncertain, but meaningful look before he turned back to the viewport.

Camooine came more clearly into view. Ashara could now make out the lush forestry and jungle from the patches of harsh desert. She knew Darius had no choice but to land on even terrain, but it didn’t stop her from trembling.

The ship descended from orbit expertly, flying over unmapped territory for several minutes before eventually a desert abode became clear as a landing spot.

As he lowered the ship to the planet, Ashara unbuckled herself and quickly moved to the side of Darius opposite the children, and hissed in his ear, “my vision took place in the desert.”

“I have no choice. I’m sorry.” He turned to look at her, his face mere inches from hers, “this couldn’t be avoided. We are going to have to face what you saw.”

He must have noticed as she clenched her jaw, because he clasped her hand between his, his fingers warm and strong.

They stayed like that for an endless moment until Ashara pulled away, a bit flush, and cleared her throat, “your plan?”

The Sith quickly rose from his chair and made his way to the other room, explaining a bit as he did so, “I have to make a call. Watch them.”

Ashara sat in his chair and leaned over the console to look the children in the eye. They reeked of terror, not that Ashara could blame them, but it was so strong it blocked her senses from detecting much else. That worried her, but she made sure not to convey that on her face.

Instead, she gave more words of encouragement, “We’re just visiting here, but it’s okay. You’ll be home before you know it. Be strong.”

The boy looked to be on the verge of another sobbing fit, but the girl nodded, her expression grim. Too grim for a child.

“My brother’s on his way. We need to get away from the ship now. We can hide in the tree line. As long as we’re here we’re sitting ducks.” Darius said as he re-entered the room.

Ashara gathered the kids and urged them to be quiet, just in case. The three, closely followed by their Sith companion, exited the ship and hurried to the nearby forest. The closer they got to the forest, and the further from the desert, Ashara felt herself relax.

Just as they hit the tree line, the sound of a ship descending appeared within earshot.

But Darius had not made it to the tree line in time. Knowing he’d been spotted, the Sith veered sharply to the left and darted to the open desert, still away from the ship. Ashara watched in horror as the second ship landed precisely in his path.

No shots were fired, thankfully. Instead the other ship’s engines cut and the door opened swiftly. Ashara watched as Darius ignited his saber.

From where she was hiding with the quivering children, she could not make out what was being said between him and the apprentice.

A moment later, Darth Iratius appeared behind his apprentice, saber in hand. Ashara couldn’t help but feel terrified for what was to come.

To her horror, the Darth turned his head to the tree line and stared directly at her.

How did he possibly sense me from there?

But there was no time to ponder it. The togruta grabbed a hand of each child and prepared to run further into the forest.

But just as she did so, Darius was attacked.

She had a choice. She had to choose between most likely getting her strange, but trusted companion killed, or likely getting an innocent child killed.

With no time to think, she did the first thing her instincts told her to. She let go of the children and walked out into the open desert.

“Wait!” She yelled.

They barely seemed to notice. The battle raged on, with Force lightning making its appearance here and there. The Darth continued to stare directly at the togruta, a smile now forced on his ugly face. He ignited his lightsaber.

Ashara swallowed. Her only hope to save Darius was to stall until their reinforcements arrived. She had no other option.

She began to jog, then run, then sprint to the oasis. Darth Iratius stepped down from the off ramp and met her on the ground. He ordered his apprentice to stop fighting when she was only a few meters away.

She breathed unevenly, but stood her ground, “what do you want, Sith?”

“What do I want?” The Darth scoffed, his lightsaber humming idly at his side, “revenge for my son’s death, perhaps? I hear that was a togruta with a strong dark presence. Though you don’t seem nearly as powerful as the woman described to me.”

He lifted a clawed hand to tap his temple, “or perhaps all I want is to finish the simple mission that my idiot son could not accomplish. To capture the Force Sensitive girl and train her as the Code permits.

Or maybe.” He continued, his amused eyes narrowing to a ravaging glare, “I want both.”

His apprentice piped up from a small distance away where he stared down Darius, lightsaber still brandished, “Master, please, let me handle these fools. The child is not far.”

“Silence.” The apprentice shut his mouth at his master’s beckon.

Ashara’s hand moved steadily and stealthily toward her saber. If she could just capture the element of surprise...

“Touch that and lose an arm.” Iratius snarled, his glaring red saber now pointed at her wandering hand.

Ashara swallowed, “I—“

But she was cut off as Mei appeared at her side. She jumped. The girl’s ability to hide her presence was remarkable. Briefly Ashara wondered if that had purposefully been taught to her by her mother.

“Take me.” Her voice was wobbly and soft, “please don’t hurt anyone.”

Iratius smiled deviously. Ashara went to grab the girl, but found a lightsaber at her neck in a second.

“Fool. You master should’ve taught you better.” He tsked, “I would expect more from a Dark Council member’s apprentice.”

The shock she felt through the Force was palpable. Even from only the corner of her eye, Ashara could see Darius stiffen.

“Oh? She didn’t tell you?” Iratius smirked, “tell him the name of your master—excuse me, _former_ master, dear.”

Ashara had no idea where the Sith was going with this, but she knew it couldn’t be good. She also knew she had no choice.

“Darth Occlus.”

Darius visibly exhaled. Ashara couldn’t see him well, but she could very clearly sense shock, anger, hurt. What had she done wrong?

In all his gloating, the Darth couldn’t help but glance at the expression on Darius’ face. It was the opening she needed. Ashara stole the opportunity and pushed as hard as she could with the Force, sending the Darth stumbling, saber still unfortunately in hand. She ignited both of her own sabers, quickly moving to stand in front of Mei.

“Impressive. But not good enough.”

Iratius pushed with the Force himself, sending Ashara up into the air slamming back down into the ground. She heard something snap and forced down the pain in her left ankle.

To her left, Darius was once again fighting the apprentice, this time far more focused. She caught glimpses of him shocking the man with zaps of Force lightning, then slashing at him with his unstable saber again and again.

But she had her own Sith to focus on. She calmed her mind and stabilized her form, careful to keep weight off of her ankle. The Sith was smiling again.

“Where is that rage I heard so much about? The rage that led my son to be choked to death, not even a defensive wound on his body!”

Ashara felt shame for what she’d done, even though she knew he’d deserved it. She felt as if she’d been unnecessarily cruel.

Like a Sith.

“I suppose there is one way I could push it along.”

The Sith attacked her with the Force again, this time focusing on her already distressed ankle. She cried out in pain and collapsed to the sand as it cracked and snapped yet again.

She watched in agony as the Darth approached Darius. She grabbed and launched her lightsaber, hoping for it to collide with either the Darth or his apprentice, but Iratius parried it without even looking. It soared, spinning through the air, headed straight toward a cowering Mei. Ashara used the Force to send it flying in the direction the Darth had once been standing.

But when she turned back, the Darth was not attacking Darius. He stood behind his strange apprentice.

And then he impaled his own apprentice with his lightsaber.

Darius didn’t miss a beat. He instantly sent wave after wave of Force lightning at the Darth, who used his saber to catch each bolt. His clawed hand reached out and twisted the air.

Darius’ left arm snapped from its socket.

He cried out in pain, immediately dropping his lightsaber. Ashara cringed and grabbed the saber she had left. As well as she could manage, she limped until she was close enough to attempt to use the Force on the Darth again, but he pushed her back, fracturing her wrist, then her other wrist when she got up again.

“Always so stubborn.” Iratius growled to himself.

Darius attempted to use his lightning again, but he was interrupted as his other arm was removed from its socket and his knee bent harshly in the opposite direction.

He yelped in pain and fell to the ground. Ashara’s heart was nearly beating from her chest. As the Darth continued to snap Darius bones, she grabbed the last lightsaber she had available and threw it as hard as she could.

To her great surprise, the Darth was not able to fully push the saber away in time, and it clearly seared a section of his face.

The Sith, face now smoking, screamed in anger. The wound was still cauterizing and bubbled as the flesh seared from his cheek. He’d been so focused on hurting him, he’d forgotten to pay attention to the togruta.

But now her sabers were out of reach, and the Sith was fast approaching. She used the Force to bring his dead apprentice’s saber to her hand. She could barely hold him back from where she lay on the ground, wrists protesting in agony.

After a moment of pushing as hard as he could manage with his saber, the Sith lifted a foot and pushed his boot forcefully into Ashara’s stomach. She exhaled harshly, her insides immediately twisting in agony. When he finally lifted his boot, it was all she could do not to curl up into a ball and die.

The Sith chose to ignore her suffering, however. He stepped over her and headed to the little sounds of sobbing at the edge of the desert.

Ashara could do nothing but watch. She watched as the Sith approached. As Mei cowered, he lifted his saber, but just as he did so, Lutis rushed out from the brush and stood in front of his sister, eyes wide.

“No.” Ashara whispered.

But just as the Sith went to swing downward, a flurry of blaster bolts came from above.

Iratius’ arm severed.

The limb holding his lightsaber fell limp to the sand. The Darth screamed in agony, clutching at his stump. The ship above circled, preparing to fire again. Iratius saw this and retreated to his ship, but turned back once more to look at Ashara. Over the engines of the ship she couldn’t hear him, but she could very clearly read his lips:

“_You will pay_.”

With the Force, the Darth brought his saber to his remaining hand and disappeared into his own ship. It was up and off as the new ship landed.

Nearly before the ship had even touched the ground, Volentus was out of the landing bay and running to Ashara. She nodded once toward the children, still clutching her stomach.

He obliged, quickly gathering them and ushering them onto his ship. He then made his way back to the injured togruta.

“I...I can’t walk.” Ashara uttered shamefully.

Without hesitation he lifted her into his arms, careful not to touch any potential injuries. He placed her delicately aboard the medbay on the ship and went back for his brother.

When Darius arrived, Ashara sat as straight up as she could. He was unconscious. His brother laid him in one of the two beds in the medbay.

For the first time, Ashara got a good look at his injuries. The man was beaten to a pulp. His extremities were snapped in ways she didn’t think possible, his ginger skin bruised in every place Ashara could see it.

“He’ll be fine. And so will you.” Volentus commented, opening a medpac.

“Thank you. The kids…?”

Ashara struggled to remain upright through the pain. Volentus glanced at her, “secure in the cargo bay. Would you like to see them?”

“There’s…” the edges of her vision began to fade, “tracker…”

She blacked out.

Ashara awoke with a start. She hadn’t had a nightmare, thank the stars, but she could sense several worrying emotions filtering in from an adjacent room.

She quickly realized she was in a medbay. The steady beeping from the console at the end of her bed and the smell of kolto overwhelmed her. As she surveyed the bandages on her aching wrists and ankles, the events of what led her there came resurfacing back into her mind.

Iratius. The chase. The battle. Volentus saving them from certain death.

She thought that perhaps the emotional dissent flooding from the other room may be Darth Volentus, but it was more familiar.

It was Darius.

Ashara ignored her body’s protests and forced herself from the uncomfortable bed. She followed her instincts into the ship’s unfamiliar hallway. Just as she stepped out of the room, Mei and Lutis came barreling past, nearly running into the togruta as they did so.

“Sorry Jedi lady!” The boy called as they ran off.

Ashara took a deep breath and headed further down the hall until she stood in front of a closed, heavy door. Muffled voices and clear discomfort came from within.

She contemplated knocking, but knew the Sith would have sensed her by then. Instead she placed a sore finger on the wall panel and allowed the door to slide open.

Volentus’ deep voice halted mid-sentence. Ashara, however, was more concerned about the beaten and bruised man on the adjacent couch.

“Are you alright?” She asked, her voice more full of disquiet than she’d intended it to be.

“I’m fine.” He uttered, but the swelling of his lip altered his voice and betrayed him.

“Please,” Volentus motioned to the seat across from them, “join us.”

Hesitantly, Ashara sat. She glanced between the Sith brothers in front of her, the tension in the room palpable.

“This is about my master.” She stated.

Darius leaned back on the couch, a shot of pain emanating from him. Volentus took a breath, “Darth Occlus is your master? The one they’re calling ‘Outlander’?”

She flinched at the mention of the title. Ashara had desperately been avoiding any news of her master, especially from the “new empire.” The last word she’d wanted to see in the month and a half she’d been couch surfing was “dead.”

Apparently, her flinch was all they needed to know. Darius’ bandaged hand scraped over his face in anguish.

Volentus sighed, “Ashara, Darth Occlus is our father.”

Their father? She was…confused.

“I don’t understand—“

Darius interrupted her, “he ruined my life, Ashara. He—“ he took a deep breath to calm himself, “he is what’s wrong with the galaxy. He is the bane of my existence.”

“Are…are you sure we’re talking about the same man? My master has been nothing but—“

“Don’t call him that,” Darius pleaded, his voice nearly hoarse.

“You need to understand,” Volentus leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, “he is not what he seems. He is a master manipulator.”

Ashara thought about her master. He’d always been kind and patient with her, but the man did have a cult and a seat on the Dark Council.

“Is it possible that he’s changed? When is the last time you spoke to him?”

Darius pondered for a moment before answering, “several years.”

“So as long as I’ve known him.” Ashara interjected, “he can’t be as bad as you think he is. At least not anymore.”

Volentus’ baritone caught her attention, “and in all those years, did her ever mention us? His two Sith sons surely should have come up in conversation.”

She went to protest, but knew he was right. She’d known since the beginning that her master was married and had children, but never had he actually told her anything about them. Ashara never pressed and had always assumed that he’d discuss the subject if he felt so inclined.

“He took me from the Jedi.”

This caught the Siths’ attention. Darius sat up, wincing. She continued, “he tricked me into meeting with him and killed my masters. Then he trapped the ghost of my ancestor in his mind.”

From the look on his face, Ashara could tell that Darius was having trouble processing what she was saying. Volentus, on the other hand, appeared unmoved.

“He contacted me once when he was searching for the spirits.” Volentus explained, “I aided him in finding the ghost of the Darth on Hoth.”

“You didn’t tell me this.” Darius seemed almost appalled.

He waved his brother off, “it was two holocalls over a year ago.”

“Where is Iratius?”

The Sith turned to Ashara. She felt pressured to continue, “is that not a pressing issue?”

“It is.” Volentus stood, “I called a colleague while you were asleep. I’ll see if she’s turned up anything. Excuse me.”

When the zabrak man left, and the door closed behind him, the room was deathly silent.

Ashara spoke first, nodding to Darius’ bandaged appendages, “Are you alright?”

He shrugged, then winced. Ashara had to hold back a sympathetic smile. But the idea of a smile quickly disappeared from her mind.

“I’m so sorry. I should have fought better. And I should have thought to tell you—“

“No.” He stopped her, his hand held in front of him, palm forward, “I apologize for overreacting. It cost us too much. Nearly the lives of innocent children.”

Ashara nodded solemnly.

He leaned forward so that there was less than a foot of space between them. Ashara’s breath increased slightly in speed.

He swallowed, his voice soothingly deep, “I know it’s been an…odd train of events that led us here. But I’m glad it has. You are one of the most powerful beings I’ve ever met. In more ways than one.”

The togruta had to take a moment to reflect on what she was feeling.She was almost giddy—content at the very least. Though she supposed now was not the time to further inspect those feelings.

“Me too. I’m glad to be here, with you.”

His cloudy gray eyes stared into hers for a long moment before the door slid open again. Darius cleared his throat and looked away.

Volentus paused in the doorway, clearly feeling as if he’d interrupted, but he took another step until the door closed behind him and spoke, “my colleague has informed me that Iratius had an appointment scheduled with what little is left of the Council. That appointment was missed. We are, apparently, the last ones to have made his acquaintance.”

“Lucky us.” Ashara mumbled. A thought popped into her brain, “Where is Darius’ ship? Did you remove the tracker?”

“It’s still on Camooine. We had no choice but to abandon it for the moment. However, I did destroy the tracker before we left.”

”Thank you. For everything. Especially this,” Ashara motioned to the bandages on her body, “we would be dead if it weren’t for you, you know.”

He smiled, his yellow eyes shining, “I know. Speaking of your wounds, the two of you should really rest again while you can. Unfortunately I don’t have much in terms of crew quarters and I did offer the only bunks to the children. Other than that I can only offer the medbay.”

“Of course. I mean, that’s fine.” Ashara was more grateful to him than she felt she could ever express, “thank you.”

He nodded once, “I’ll keep you updated on Iratius.”

And then he left once again. Ashara and Darius sat in silence for a bit before going back to the medbay for their rest.

When they arrived, she asked, “do you mind if I meditate?”

“Please,” he motioned, without looking, to the bed farthest from the door. The Sith himself sat on the only other bed before speaking again, “actually…would you mind teaching me your mantra?”

She blinked, “er, sure, of course.”

The togruta sat facing him, the meter or so between the beds all that separated them.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began, “There is emotion. There is peace. There is passion. There is serenity. There is death. There is the Force.”

When she repeated it, this time the Sith joined her, “There is emotion. There is peace. There is passion. There is serenity. There is death. There is the Force.”

They spoke the chant aloud a few more times until the room truly felt emotionally balanced and peaceful.

“You’re a fast learner.” She commented as she laid down on the bed, sideways so that she could still see the Sith.

“I have a good teacher.” He smiled, his features lifting handsomely.

Ashara had to look away so as to not get lost in his eyes, quickly changing the subject, “we should rest while we can.”

“…yes. You’re right. We should.”

He hesitated, as if he had something more to say, but laid down with a huff of pain. Ashara winced, still ashamed that she’d caused so much suffering. But she pushed those feelings down and commanded her eyes to shut. She focused on the sweet smell of kolto and the steady breathing of the man across the room.


	7. Chapter 7

“Ouch!” Ashara yelled out.

Darius smirked as he bonked her on the head again with the butt of the wooden stick, “not quite used to facing someone with a staff, are you?”

“Not quite.” She grumbled, rubbing her horn.

It had been just over three days since their battle with Iratius, and Ashara had insisted that they train for another inevitable face-off. The last thing she wanted was to be caught by surprise again, getting herself and, more importantly, others hurt.

“Let’s go again.” She stood, brushing herself off.

Darius spun the staff in his palm, taking several steps back. With his bones now fully healed, and his bruises nearly there, he almost had a spring in his step.

Ashara gripped a training stick in each hand, setting her feet at shoulder width to perfect her stance. She took a deep breath to ready herself.

Darius sprinted at her. She easily stepped aside and spun to face him as he went past. He gripped the staff with both hands and swung it back and forth, the wood clacking together over and over as she blocked each of his attacks.

On his final swing, however, instead of swinging in the direction Ashara had expected, he used the Force to push her, causing her to stumble. Before the togruta could regain her balance he knocked the stick from her right hand and pointed his staff at her midsection, stopping just as it “impaled” her.

“Damn it!” She growled, knocking the staff away with her hand, “why am I even facing you? Iratius doesn’t have a double-bladed saber.”

The Sith was clearly fighting back a smirk, which annoyed her ever more, “perhaps you should face my brother. He practices a form similar to Iratius. Minus the lightning.”

“There’s no use. I’ll never defeat a Darth.” She tossed her practice blades to the padded floor.

Darius placed a hand on her shoulder, “Ashara, you have no idea how strong you are with the Force. All you need to do is use that strength to your advantage.”

She clenched her jaw, contemplating his words. Her relationship with the Force had always been complicated. She’d always felt that some of it was just out of reach, no matter how hard she trained or how long she meditated. When she was a Jedi, she’d thought that it was the Dark Side, taunting her. When she was a Sith apprentice, she thought it was what she left behind when she’d abandoned the Light.

Now she wasn’t sure.

Darius broke her train of thought, “Do you hear that?”

She froze, ears perked. There was the faint hum of the engine and the sounds of the children rummaging through the kitchen a few rooms away, but something else. Something mechanical. And it was getting closer.

_I’m not ready. I can’t face him yet_, was all Ashara could think. The Sith at her side dropped his hand from her arm and headed toward the exit of the training room. Ashara followed.

They caught up to Volentus in the hall, also headed toward the bridge. None of them spoke.

As soon as they reached the control panel of the zabrak‘s ship, he scanned for nearby vessels.

“It’s approaching from the left, toward the docking bay. No life forms detected aboard.”

“No life forms?” Ashara shared a curious look with Darius.

“This is clearly a trap.” He warned.

Volentus nodded, “certainly. But it seems to be locked on to the ship’s signature. I won’t be able to avoid it.”

“I’ll get the shields.” Ashara suggested, beginning to tap a few buttons.

“No,” Darius stopped her, “what’s the worst it can be? An assassin droid? A bomb? We have jamming devices on board. We can handle it.”

Volentus thought for a moment before replying, “he’s right.”

“Alright,” Ashara took a breath, touching the lightsabers at her sides to be sure they were still there, “let’s find out what it is.”

Volentus elected to stay and man the controls while Darius and Ashara went to the docking bay. On the way, Ashara made sure to tell the kids to stay where they were, to which they dutifully nodded.

Outside the door to the bay, Darius ignited his saber. It hummed loudly, sparks spewing from its blade.

“Ready?”

Ashara clicked one of her own lightsabers to life, “ready.”

The two stepped into the room just as the small vessel, which appeared to be an escape pod, landed inside.

No life forms, Ashara reminded herself as she approached, saber forward.

The door to the escape pod opened, slowly, on its own. It was a tense few seconds before the door fully swung open.

“It’s...nothing.”

She took a tentative step forward. The escape pod was completely empty.

“We need to find out where it came from.” Darius’ deep voice sounded behind her as she surveyed the vessel.

“Is this a message?” She asked, her thoughts racing through possibilities.

“Perhaps.” His lightsaber dissipated.

The two made their way back to the bridge and informed Volentus of the news. He was just as perplexed as Ashara.

“Can we follow its path?” Darius asked, leaning over the console.

“As long as it traveled in a straight line, sure.” His brother stood with his arms crossed and brow furrowed, “but this ship is well hidden in Deep Space. Who could have possibly known where to find it?”

“Have you made any calls?” Ashara questioned.

“None.” He stared at the opposite wall, clearly lost in thought, “perhaps a microscopic tracker? But it would’ve had to have been placed days ago, and avoided my detection.”

Ashara swallowed at the mention of days ago. The only living being any of them had made contact with in the last three days was Iratius. But the hobbling man missing an arm was hardly a threat of covert operations.

“I’ve made a course.” Darius spoke up, standing tall once again, “all we can do now is wait.”

“I’ll take the first shift.” Ashara volunteered, sitting in what she assumed was the captain’s chair.

“No, I will.” Darius sent her a meaningful look. This was clearly some sort of vendetta for him.

“It would be better to have two sets of eyes on the radars anyway.” Volentus offered, “no need to fight.”

Ashara huffed a laugh, “fighting is what we’re good at.”

“Like an old married couple.” Volentus muttered under his breath, then spoke a bit louder, “I’ll be in my quarters. Let me know if anything happens.”

With that he exited the room. When the door slid shut behind him, Darius sat down in the co-pilot’s chair next to Ashara. He was far enough that the chair could still spin without touching, but close enough that his aura seeped into her personal space, that warm darkness permeating her senses. It would’ve been almost comforting, were it not so suffocating.

It was a quiet thing, waiting for something to happen. Ashara tried not to focus on the steady hum of the engine, or the soft inhale and exhale of the Sith’s breath, as she knew either would put her to sleep. The two had been sitting there, staring at screens for about an hour when Ashara began to feel the ache of her muscles set in from their training session. She suppressed the urge to pace, and instead focused on meditation as she watched, and waited.

Several more minutes passed. The togruta’s patience wore thin. She glanced out of the ship’s large windshield, her eyes meeting nothing but the beautiful expanse of Deep Space.

“Please stop that.”

She hadn’t realized she’d been tapping her finger until Darius mentioned it. She cleared her throat, “sorry. I’m just…”

“Trying to stay awake?”

She caught his eye, unable to keep herself from mirroring his smirk, “maybe a little bit. How far can this thing be?”

He shrugged, his face falling back to its neutral state, “it could take hours. Or days. Or we may never reach it. Any turn it made means we’re wandering aimlessly.”

The togruta stood and stretched, her muscles thanking her profusely, “I need to use the ‘fresher. Do you mind?”

“Be my guest,” he motioned to the door.

Relieved, she paced quickly from the room and made it to the ‘fresher near the crew’s quarters. Speedily she undressed and stepped into the hot stream of water, instantly relaxing. The steam emanating from the faucet cleared her nasal passages and caused her eyelids to feel heavy. She decided it was time to get out when she felt herself falling asleep right there in the ‘fresher.

She turned off the water and listened for anything out of the ordinary. The engine’s hum and the soft sound of distant children’s laughter was what met her ears. She felt out with the Force and found Darius and Volentus, exactly where she’d left them.

“There is emotion. There is peace.” She reminded herself as she redressed.

Ashara had intended to head back to the bridge, but she found herself wandering toward the medbay where she’d been sleeping for the last few nights.

_Just need to rest my eyes._

A few minutes. That was all.

“Ashara!”

This was...familiar. The togruta found herself at the helm of her Master’s ship. She knew her line.

But she didn’t say it.

“Ashara!” Andronikos yelled again.

“Ashara!”

She perked. That time, it wasn’t Andronikos.

It was Darius.

She turned to her left. There he sat, hands on the ship’s controls as he swerved to avoid blaster fire.

“Darius?” She paused, “you aren’t supposed to…”

Suddenly, the shooting stopped altogether. The blaster fire was frozen. Darius was gone.

Slowly, she turned.

The woman was closer this time. Her eyes were a stark yellow, wide and smiling. Her dark hair curled at her neck, the hood of her tunic covering half of her face in shadow.

“Who are you?” Ashara whimpered. She felt despair.

The woman grinned, “your worst nightmare.”

Ashara jumped. Her forehead smacking into something hard.

When her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized she was once again in the medbay. As she rubbed her head, she realized the thing she’d hit was Darius’ forehead.

“Ow.” He mumbled sleepily, rubbing his temple with the ball of his palm.

“Nightmare. Sorry.” The pain was quickly subsiding.

“I know.” He sat on the edge of her bed, “you said my name several times.”

Briefly, she worried that no one was watching the consoles on the bridge, but she remembered that Volentus was likely there, dutifully sitting through the night, and relaxed.

She glanced over the Sith at her side. He was wearing black, as usual, but his hair was unkempt and his shirt wrinkled.

“I’m ready to tell you about my dream.”

He raised a brow, sleepily mumbling an, “alright.”

She sat up in bed and crossed her legs. Ashara began by explaining the series of events that her dream was based on. She told him everything from the arrival at Marr’s ship, to the skytroopers, to the fleet attack. She told him about how every dream started with the exchange with Andronikos, then the blaster bolts, then the jump.

“Except tonight, you were in the pilot’s chair.” She went on, “and then there was the woman—“

“You mentioned a woman before.” He interjected, now fully awake, “the same one?”

She nodded, “she was closer this time. I’m afraid of what will happen when she reaches me.”

There was a pause before he turned to bring his legs up to the bed, crossing his to mirror hers. He looked her in the eye as he spoke, “this woman, is she Force sensitive?”

“I...don’t know. It’s hard to tell when I’m dreaming.”

“I understand, but…” he reached forward to hold one of her hands. She suddenly had trouble swallowing past the lump in her throat. He continued, “Ashara. If this woman is reaching out with the Force, she can physically manifest herself in your dreams. If she reaches you…”

The togruta’s eyes widened. She hadn’t considered the possibility that the woman was physically intruding upon her nightmare. Goosebumps raised on her skin. What if the woman were to harm her? Could she attack? Could she hurt Darius, or Volentus, or the kids? Could she do something to her mind?

“Ashara.” Darius’ low tone was reassuring, but she couldn’t quiet her mind. He seemed to know this, “meditate with me.”

“I can’t. What if I fall asleep? What if she’s there again? I need training for this. I’m not trained to...to…”

She began to tear up. The Sith reached with his open hand to wipe away a tear just as it fell.

“Darius…” she breathed. She wasn’t used to being so close to him. His aura was more rigid than usual, but still relaxing.

She barely caught it in the dark, but his eyes flicked from hers to her mouth, the slight tremble of her lip catching his attention. Ashara found herself leaning forward, just slightly…

The door to the medbay swung open. Ashara grabbed wildly for her lightsaber, but quickly recognized Volentus’ piercing eyes in the glint of the dim light.

“Er, I—apologize for the interruption. We are approaching the ship that the pod seems to have come from.”

Darius cleared his throat and turned to step down from the bed, avoiding Ashara’s gaze. She forced down a pang of embarrassment, feeling a bit like a child caught stealing dessert.

_Focus, _she reminded herself as she followed the Sith brothers down the hall and onto the ship’s bridge. Before even glancing at the sensors, Ashara caught a glimpse of something through the transparisteel. A Republic capital ship sat motionless in the distance.

“What’s going on? Why isn’t it attempting to make communication? Or attacking?” Ashara wondered aloud, knowing quite well that an Imperial ship approaching a Republic vessel was normally something to set off many alarms.

“I wish I knew.” Volentus mumbled thoughtfully, “I’ve waited here a few minutes. Nothing.”

The togruta glanced at a few screens, then stared at the ship again, “something’s wrong. We have to help them.”

“We might as well walk into a sarlacc pit.” Darius spoke up for the first time, his tone sour.

“I don’t care if you come with me. I’m going aboard.” She began to flip switches. Just as she went to pull the accelerator, Darius’ hand landed on hers.

“Ashara, this is a trap.”

“I don’t care, Darius, people could be hurt!”

“She’s right, brother.” Volentus cut in, “the sensors are showing several life forms. They could be injured Republic passengers.”

Darius scoffed, “or Sith. Or Jedi.”

Neither Ashara nor Volentus defended themselves further. With a deep sigh, the Sith released his grip from Ashara and allowed her to fly towards the enemy ship. The three sat in tense silence as their own ship soared through Deep Space, and eventually came close enough to dock upon the other ship.

“One of us should stay here as a precaution.” Volentus suggested.

Darius pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’ll go with her. We’ll take comms.”

Ashara nearly jumped from her seat, grabbing an earpiece from the wall panel as she passed through the door. She maneuvered through the ship quietly, careful so as not to wake the children.

When she finally reached the docking bay she crossed her arms and tapped her finger impatiently.

Finally, the Sith appeared from the other side of the door, still wearing his wrinkled night clothes—though his hair had been smoothed down.

He adjusted the comm device in his ear as he sauntered toward her.

“Can you hear me?” Volentus’ baritone sounded in Ashara’s left ear.

“Yes.” She answered.

When Darius did not answer himself, still fiddling with the device, she sighed.

“Here. Let me.”

Hesitantly she took a step toward the man and brushed his dark hair behind his ear. She corrected the positioning of the earpiece so that it sat snug against his eardrum, then switched it on.

He cleared his throat, “sorry. I’m here.”

“Good. Go ahead and board. I’ve got eyes on the scanners; I’ll let you know if anything moves.”

Ashara and her Sith tiptoed through the long, metal hallway that connected the two ships. Other than the sound of their soft footsteps, it was completely silent.

When they arrived at the door, Darius touched the panel, his left hand pressed cautiously to his saber.

The door slid open. On the other side was a typical Republic docking bay, at least according to what Ashara was used to seeing. There sat a few un-manned fighters and large shipping containers.

“It’s too quiet.” Darius mumbled, hand still lingering over his hip.

Ashara jumped when the door closed behind them, “agreed. Let’s keep moving.”

The two continued to tiptoe around the eerie ship. The crew quarters were completely empty, as were the engine room and gun stations.

“Still nothing?” Volentus asked.

Ashara touched a finger to her ear, “nothing.”

“We’re heading to the bridge,” Darius mentioned to his brother, then said just to Ashara, “be ready for anything.”

She nodded and removed one of the lightsabers from her side.

They stepped out of the elevator, its small ding echoing through the empty corridor. Through the viewport in the door, Ashara could already see that none of the usual movement was happening on the vessel’s bridge.

Ashara and Darius shared a weary glance, then entered the room.

The smell of death was overwhelming. Ashara found herself covering her mouth and nose with a piece of her tunic, nearly gagging. Darius made a disgusted face, but was otherwise unaffected.

“It reeks of death.” He muttered into his earpiece, “but no bodies.”

He was right. Despite the wretched stench, the control panels and chairs were completely void of the regular crew of personnel.

“Odd.” Volentus replied, “I just sensed movement.”

Chills ran down Ashara’s spine. She scanned the empty room slowly. Still nothing.

She decided to investigate. Taking her lightsaber into her palm, the togruta paced around the edges of the room. She realized a few of the panels were damaged by blaster fire. She wondered briefly if a firefight had broken out amongst the crew, though that still wouldn’t explain the lack of bodies.

“Ashara.” Darius called from the front of the room.

She approached slowly. The Sith used the tip of his unlit lightsaber to turn the captain’s chair in her direction.

The chair was slashed apart. Mutilated. But still no body.

“This was done by a lightsaber.” He commented, “the captain was attacked from behind.”

“Do you think that’s what started this?”

He absentmindedly rubbed his chin with his knuckle, “your guess is as good as mine.”

_Clank._

Ashara jumped at the sudden noise. She spun, lightsaber extended, toward the origin of the sound.

Nothing.

Silently, Ashara paced toward the starboard wall. Despite him making no noise, she knew Darius would be behind her.

Upon inspecting the wall a second time, Ashara could see a small break in the metal—an indentation, as if the steel there had been punched.

Over the hum of her ignited lightsaber, she did her best to listen for the sound again. She was sure it had originated from where they stood.

“Stand back.” Darius commanded.

She furrowed her brow, but did as she was told. With his right hand, Darius reached forward. Ashara felt the shift in the Force as the wall panel strained to remain in place. It seemed as if nothing further would happen, but after another few seconds of silence, the panel snapped and cracked, landing solidly on the floor.

Several dead bodies came piling out after it.

Ashara gasped, moving out of the way just as the captain landed at her feet, face down, his back slashed in several directions as his chair had been.

“We found the crew.” Came Darius’ grave voice, both next to her and in her ear, “they’re gone. A few days, at least.”

Volentus’ tone was worrisome, “that still doesn’t explain—“

A crash interrupted him. Something from beneath their feet.

“...what was that?” Ashara breathed.

Without a word, Darius shook the dead woman’s hand from his foot and marched toward the elevator. Ashara took one last glance at the gnarled body of the captain before following her companion.

Ashara watched as Darius ignited his lightsaber before punching the elevator button.

When she caught up, she could feel her heart beating faster. She had to remind herself to remain calm, “what are we walking into?”

“Out of the frying pan…” he mumbled to himself.

This time, they took the elevator all the way down. Ashara knew that there was only one option on a floor that low.

The brig.

Darius took a moment to explain the situation to his brother. Ashara could barely hear him over the pounding in her ears. Whatever had done that to the crew…

“There is emotion. There is peace.”

The sound of Darius saying her chant to her brought her back to reality, as if a fog had lifted.

“Thanks.” She said, without looking at him.

The elevator dinged.

Ashara could hear it, whatever it was, before she could see it. The brig on a Republic capital ship was often large, sometimes taking up the entire bottom floor of the ship itself. Ashara guessed this was the case.

She had to guess, because the room was completely bathed in darkness.

She could see the light fixtures on the ceiling and walls, but a lightsaber had clearly been run through them. The emergency generators had not switched on because the rest of the ship still had light and power.

She heard it again. It was a scraping, metal on metal.

When the elevator doors closed, what little they could see was limited to their immediate surroundings, thanks to the light of their sabers.

It sounded again.

_What in the stars is down here in the dark?_

Ashara turned on her other saber, the red one, and pushed it forward. She could see the outlines of the walls on either side ahead, but little else.

Darius took a few tentative steps forward. She followed.

From what light she had, Ashara could see the muscles on Darius’ back stiffen under his shirt. His steps were careful, methodical, and his breathing quiet.

The lingering scent of death permeated even the brig. Ashara squinted in the low light, avoiding shards of glass on the floor as she moved along. Again, the scraping sounded. It was louder this time. Closer.

She held her breath as they approached a corner. They prepared themselves, then turned.

The scraping stopped mid-sound. In the low, mostly red, light, Ashara could make out the bars of a cell. Normally it would have been a rayshield, but some of the older ships had steel bars in place in case of a shutdown.

She thanked the stars that the bars were there.

Slowly, Darius reached his hand out and touched the bar. A bolt of lightning ran across the metal, skipping down the bars and across the walls to light up the room for a split second.

A face stared back at them in that light.

The Sith thrust his saber outward, ready to strike through the bars.

“Wait!”

The voice was scratchy and haggard, but clearly a man. His tone was desperate enough that Darius did, in fact, wait.

“Who are you?” He hissed, “what are you doing down here?”

There was a pause, then a crack sounded. Ashara hopped into her battle stance, but relaxed a bit when she saw the glow rod react to the man’s touch.

The cell was bathed in soft green light. The man was a rodian, his skin so thin and feeble it looked stuck to the bone.

His voice was shaky, as were his hands holding the glow rod, “it’s the last one I have. Please tell me you’ve come to rescue us. We’re out of food.”

Without hesitation, Ashara went to slash at the locks of the cell and free the man. Darius caught her wrist mid-swing.

“What happened here?”

The man swallowed, taking a half-step back. Suddenly Ashara wasn’t so sure she should’ve believed him so quickly.

“There was an artifact. On Oricon. We were ordered to retrieve it by the Chancellor.”

“Go on.”

He shook slightly more, “There was a Sith guarding it. He told us that we would deeply regret going to that place. He was right.

After the Sith made it clear he wasn’t going to hand it over, the captain went back to the ship to call for Jedi reinforcements. That’s when the Sith ambushed us.

He killed the captain and a few of the officers. And then he used the artifact.

It...changed them. I watched as the captain, or his body, _moved_. It thrashed against the floor and then rose, as if he were still alive. But his eyes were white. And then…”

The rodian broke into soft sobs. Darius looked down at him, “he attacked?”

“His own crew! As if we were the enemy! He shot and he scratched until the Sith made his escape.” His voice cracked, “I barely managed to get the ship into the atmosphere before I was attacked myself!”

Ashara cocked her head, eyes narrowed, “then who put you down here?”

“I did!” He croaked, “it was the only way—!”

“To ensure the dead wouldn’t reach you.” Darius finished, turning to Ashara.

Her eyes widened slowly.

They had opened the wall panel.

“Oh no…” Ashara stared wide-eyed at the Sith, who looked more upset than she’d ever seen him.

Darius’ brow suddenly furrowed, “but if you’ve been down here, who put the bodies in the wall?”

From far off enough that she could barely make it out, Ashara heard something.

The elevator dinged.

“Brother.” Darius pressed into his ear, panicked, “hello? We need backup.”

Ashara swallowed, turning away from the cell and putting herself into her battle stance. In the distance she could hear something like many feet dragging along. Shuffling.

“Brother. Demânio.” Darius said what she assumed was his brother’s name, then cursed when he received no answer yet again.

The shuffling was getting closer. Ashara’s skin crawled.

The Sith took a step to the side, so that he wasn’t close enough to hurt Ashara, and ignited the other end of his weapon.

The shuffling of a silent crowd was near the corner they’d traversed. They had no choice but to fight their way out. The rodian sobbed still behind them.

Ashara could smell them before she could see them. That same stench from before permeated her nostrils. It was all she could manage not to throw up right then and there. She focused her thoughts on her stance, making sure her grip wasn’t too tight, but just enough, her feet far enough apart, her weight on her back foot.

Then she saw them. Dozens of sets of eyes glinted from across the room in the dark. The way they moved was somehow...wrong. Like a puppeteer was controlling them from above, their limbs moving sharply at seemingly random intervals.

But she didn’t let it distract her. In the second that one raised its gun, she aimed her saber, parrying the blaster bolt and hitting the thing squarely in the chest.

It crumpled to the ground.

Darius used the Force to send bolts of lightning coursing through every enemy, the creatures’ white eyes glowing in the flash of light and heat. Every one stumbled and fell, but simply stood again.

They all began to shoot.

Ashara prepared to leap, even against her instincts telling her to stay away from those things, but Darius beat her to it. He slashed the hoard with his lightsaber, sending bits and pieces of limbs flying about the room. Ashara focused on keeping the sobbing man in the prison cell safe. She blocked many blaster bolts with her sabers, careful not to hit anyone she didn’t mean to.

One of the things broke through Darius’ barrier, struggling to make its way to Ashara as its buckling legs betrayed it. She looked into it’s awful, dead eyes, ready to strike, but Darius used the end of his saber and, without looking, halved it.

The top half of the human woman landed at Ashara’s feet. When Ashara was sure it wasn’t going to attack again, she threw her saber at one of the monsters just as it nearly shot the Sith in the head.

He struck down the last one, a mirialan man, by separating its head from its neck.

Ashara collected herself and her lightsaber, and glanced at Darius, “Are you okay?”

“Answer me.” Darius ignored her. He spoke to the rodian, “Do you hear me? Answer me. Who put the bodies in the wall?”

“I don’t know!” He cried, now on his knees, “please, Sith, believe me!”

Darius was fuming. The Force around him was full of anger, hatred. The room felt colder than it had.

The man sobbed again. He clearly had no answer.

Ashara interjected before Darius could ask again, “who’s we?”

The man stared at her, terrified, “huh?”

She felt her own patience thinning, “when we got here, you said ‘we’re running out of food.’ Who’s we?”

“I...I don’t—“

“Ashara. Look.”

Darius caught her attention. Ashara turned to see, in the next cell, illuminated by his lightsaber, two blank, white eyes staring directly at her.

It was a human woman, clearly dead, with purple-tinted skin and a missing chunk of skull.

Ashara shivered under her gaze. She wondered how long that thing had been watching her. Probably since she’d arrived.

“Don’t hurt her!” The rodian yelled, suddenly full of energy, “I love her! I can save her!”

“She’s been dead for days.” Darius growled, very clearly fed up with the man, “she cannot be saved.”

“You don’t know that!” He yelled, then thought better of himself, “Er, sir. Lord Sith sir.”

Without a word, Darius stabbed the woman through the head with the end of his lightsaber. The rodian cried out in agony, unlike anything Ashara had heard before. She knew it had to be done, but did he have to be so cruel about it?

Darius slashed his saber again, this time carving the lock off of the man’s cell. He continued to sob.

“Let’s go, Ashara.”

She opened the cell door and crouched down to make eye contact with the man, “what’s your name?”

He blinked between sobs, “Bas. Bas Miava.”

“Bas.” She looked him in the eye, “we will find who did this and they will face justice. I promise you that.”

He sniffled and nodded, almost childlike. Satisfied, Ashara stood and offered her hand to him. He took it hesitantly, his long fingers wrapping around her palm.

She hoisted him up and led the way through the pile of bodies. The three of them gathered onto the elevator together. The ride was short and quiet, aside from the occasional sniffle. 

“I’m sorry for what happened to you.” Ashara said as her and Darius left the elevator, stepping into the docking bay.

“Good luck.” Bas sniffed as the doors shut and they saw him for the last time.

Ashara and Darius nearly ran back to the ship. His brother had not been answering on comms, and that could mean nothing but trouble. 

Upon arrival, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Other than the fact that the ship itself was completely quiet.

“The engines aren’t on.” Ashara noted aloud.

Darius, lightsaber still at the ready, made way to the bridge. Ashara followed in step.

Volentus was not on the bridge. 

“Check on the kids.” Darius said, an edge of urgency to his tone.

Ashara sprinted to the crew’s quarters.

Empty.

She then checked the med bay, the kitchen, the ‘fresher.

Still completely empty. 

Now very worried, she hurried, her lightsabers held in front of and behind her, to the engine room.

There she found Darius and his brother, speaking in hushed tones.

“What is it?” Ashara asked, fearing the worst.

Volentus looked utterly defeated, “it was Iratius. I sensed him just before I was attacked from behind. When I woke up…”

Darius turned to her, his voice low, “he took them, Ashara. He has the children.”


End file.
